Only The Beginning
by amanda.xo
Summary: Continuation from Season 4 Finale. Brase, Leyton, Haley.Nathan.Rachel triangle. Rachel vs. Haley. Marriages, Breakup, deaths, car accidents, i got it all :p
1. Season 4 Finale

Before I start telling this story, there are a few things you might want to know. This fanfic is of what could possibly happen in the 5th Season. Now as some of you have probably read, Mark is thinking of making season 5 go 4 years into the future.

So that's what I'm doing to do…

WARNING : this FanFic will have a lot of emotional, happy, and disappointing scenes, people who are emotionally unstable please be advised.

Recap:

Season 4 Finale.

"Give it up for you're Graduates of 2007"… said Principal Turner. Everyone gets in line to accept their diploma. Haley holds her stomach, the baby was due any day now, and Nathan stayed close behind to make sure nothing would happen to her. Brooke and Peyton both got in line very excited. Lucas followed them and rolled his eyes "women…" he said to himself.

They all got in alphabetical order. And Principal Turner started calling out the names of all the graduates.

Karen was watching all the graduates, and then looked beside her to see an empty seat. "Keith, you should be here!" Karen looked up to the sky, and said.

Karen looked at her son, and he smiled at her.

"Brooke Davis….!" The Principle called out. Everyone was clapping as Brooke walked on stage to get her diploma. She thanked Principal Turner and turned to the crowd, and screamed "I graduated!!" Everyone laughed.

The names kept getting called out. Brooke got off the stage, and walked towards Peyton. Peyton hugged Brooke "Congrats Brooke, we all knew you had to graduate someday" Brooke laughed and replied "Well at least I graduated with you skanky hoe."

"Marvin McFadden!" Mouth walked over with a huge smile on his face, and accepted his diploma. Once he got off stage, he walked over to Shelly, she gave him a kiss and said "Congratulations boyfriend" Mouth gave Shelly a big hug, and then went to sit next to Brooke.

"Peyton Sawyer!" Peyton walked up, accepted her diploma then walked back down, kissed Lucas, and went to go sit with Brooke, Mouth and Bevin.

"Lucas, Nathan, and Haley Scott!" everyone started to laugh. All three of them walked up on stage together and accepted their diplomas.

Once everyone's names were called out, Principal Turner said "Will all the graduates come up on stage please."

Everyone got on stage eagerly. The Principal makes a speech about all the good times at Tree Hill High.

The graduates throw their hats in the air. Haley starts panting. Nathan asks her what's wrong. She says the baby is coming. "What!" Nathan screams. "The baby, the baby is coming" Lucas overhears them and gets his cell phone out and starts dialling. "Hello, I need an ambulance; my best friend is having a baby. Tree Hill High School….Thank you" Lucas closes the phone. Ambulance is on its way guys"

The ambulance came about 10 minutes later. Lucas and Nathan go with Haley in the ambulance. Brooke and Peyton follow the ambulance to the hospital in Brooke's car. Once they got to the hospital, Peyton and Brooke ran inside to see Haley in a wheelchair waiting for a room to deliver the baby. Nathan and Lucas were talking to one of the doctors, then they ran over and Nathan went in back of the wheelchair and to go push Haley to the delivery room.

"Wish us luck" he said.

Brooke, Peyton, and Lucas all replied "Good Luck!"

Haley has complications in the delivery room. "The baby is going to be okay right?" Nathan asked the doctor. "I'm not sure Mr. Scott." He replied.

Lucas, Brooke and Peyton all waited in the waiting room for the baby. "You guys really love each other, don't you?" Brooke asked Lucas and Peyton. Lucas looks at Brooke and holds Peyton close, "We do" Brooke smiles at the happy couple, then looks down and is about to cry. Peyton gets up, "Brooke, what's wrong?" she asked. Brooke looks up wiping a tear "What? Oh…nothing" Brooke got up from the chair and went to the get some water. "I'll be right back" Peyton said as she got up to comfort Brooke.

"Hey," Peyton said rubbing Brooke's shoulder, "What's going on?"

"It's nothing, really…"

"Come on, don't lie to me. You're not really good at it anyway."

"I'm sorry Peyton, I just feel like I could have had something great with Chase, and now… he's gone…and it's all my fault"

Peyton gave her best friend a hug. "Thanks, I needed that"

"It's not your fault Brooke."

Meanwhile in the delivery, Haley woke up from a horrible pregnancy. Nathan was holding her hand. She pulled away. "Doctor, doctor! I want to see my baby boy"

The doctor looked at Haley very sadly. Nathan woke up "Where's my son!"

"We lost him, I'm so sorry"

Haley screamed "NOOOO!" and started crying. Nathan started to cry as well and held Haley close.

Nathan walked out of the delivery room heartbroken, and fell apart, started crying on the ground

Brooke saw Nathan on the ground crying, and ran over to him

"Nathan, what's wrong?" Brooke asked.

"The baby didn't make it…my boy didn't make it…" Nathan cried.

Brooke goes in for a hug, but Nathan doesn't want her hug.

"Nathan, come on." Brooke said.

Finally Nathan gave in, and gave Brooke a hug, and cried on her shoulder.

"Can you tell Lucas and Peyton about this please, I have to go back and talk to Haley" Nathan said.

"Of course…" Brooke said, "I understand"

Nathan walked back into the room, Haley was still crying on the bed. Nathan goes to sit on the edge of her bed.

"Haley, come on, let's talk about this."

"I don't want to talk about it Nathan! Our little boy died today!" Haley gives Nathan the cold shoulder, and starts crying even more

"I know Hales, I know" Nathan said trying to get her to face him.

"It's not fair!"

"Life isn't fair"

"THIS IS YOUR FAULT!"

"What?"

"You heard me!"

"You can't believe this is MY FAULT"

"I want you to leave."

"What?"

"Leave! I want to be alone Nathan"

"No, let's talk about this Haley!"

"No. Leave! I don't want to talk to you Nathan!"

"Let me just take you home"

"Fine, take me home, but we aren't talking after that"

The car ride home was very quiet. Nathan kept looking at Haley, but she never looked at him, she was looking outside her window.

"Oh, look" Haley said for the first time

"What is it?" Nathan asked.

"It's a couple with their new born baby!" Haley started to cry again

"Hales…"

"Nathan STOP! Just bring me home!"

Nathan continued to drive. Once they got home, Nathan brought her up to the apartment, and then asked her.

"Are you sure you want me to leave?"

"I told you before, LEAVE."

"Okay. I'm leaving"

Nathan looks down, and walks out the door.

Brooke, Peyton and Lucas are all hanging out in Lucas's room. "I can't believe the type of pain Haley must be going threw"

"Yeah, I know. It's horrible."

"I just don't understand."

There's a knock on the door, Lucas gets up to answer it. "Nathan?"

"Hey guys, Haley kicked me out"

"What?" both Brooke and Peyton yell.

"She thinks it's my fault that our baby boy died."

"Nathan, it's not your fault" Lucas said

"Haley will come around" Brooke assured him

"I hope so…" Nathan replied.

3 months later

Rachel had had a party the night and the gang went over to help her clean up.

"Nathan, can you help me with these beer bottles, there are too many" Rachel said.

"Ah, yeah, sure"

Nathan walked over to Rachel, and helped her pick up the empty beer bottles. They started to walk down the driveway.

"You know, I could have done this all by myself, but I wanted to ask you something, something, that I didn't want to say in front of everyone."

"okay, well you've got me alone, what's going on?"

"What's going on with you and Haley" Rachel asked confused, "I mean, I hit on you, and she goes psycho, and now, all the girls are on you, and she doesn't even care?"

Nathan looked down, "Rach, it's not that simple. Haley's been through a lot"

"and what you haven't?" Rachel interrupted. "that baby boy was yours too Nate, and it's not your fault that this unfortunate thing happened. It's not fair what Haley is doing to you! Haley has been threw a lot, I understand, but if I were in her position, I would want the man I love next to me, telling me everything was going to be okay! You know?"

"You know, beneath all that plastic surgery, you're a pretty deep person Rachel Gattina." Nathan joked.

Rachel smirked and then hit him "I'm serious!"

"Who knows what life has in store for me and Haley, or me alone…" Nathan said putting the bottles in the garbage can as Rachel held it open"

Once they were done, Nathan put his arm around Rachel, and they walked back to the house to help everyone else out

After they all finished cleaning up the mansion. They all decided that since tomorrow was their last day of seeing each other, they would head up to the river court for old times sakes.

Lucas takes his lucky basketball out of his trunk and starts bouncing it. Peyton takes the basketball from Lucas, and screams "BOYS VS.GIRLS!"

"Oh. You are so on!" Lucas says and runs after Peyton.

The game started. Peyton started off with the ball, Brooke was being covered by Nathan. Peyton started to dribble, Lucas rushed her, and started to tickle her, she left go of the ball, and tried to fight him off. "Lucas!" she laughed.

Bevin picked up the ball, and started dribbling it, passed it to Brooke, who had ran away from Nathan. Brooke shot, and scored! The girls all screeched.

They played all day long. Finally, everyone got tired, and sat on the benches.

"That was fun" Brooke said.

"I've got an idea. Girls, come with me" Rachel said.

All the girls followed Rachel to her car. Rachel whispered something to the girls, they all giggled, and looked at the boys. The boys had curious but at the same time facial expressions on their faces. The girls ran over and Brooke said "Hit it Rachel" Rachel reached into the car, and opened the CD player and inserted a CD. A couple of seconds later, "Spice Up Your Life" turned on. The guys started laughing, and the girls started dancing. Later on in the song, Lucas, Skillz and Mouth joined Peyton, Bevin, and Shelley on the dance floor. Nathan got up and started to dance with Brooke and Rachel, and Haley went to go join Peyton and Lucas. After the song was over, everyone was laughing, and went to go sit on the bleachers.

"When was the last time we all just hung out eh?" Lucas asked.

"Probably at the cabin…?" Rachel said.

"I can't believe today is our last day together guys. Tomorrow, we're all off to different cities." Nathan said.

"What if we never see each other again?" Bevin asked.

"That will never happen" Peyton said.

"We're going to be friends forever" Haley said.

"Come on, I have an idea" Peyton said.

Everyone followed Peyton. She got some chalk, and drew a graduation hat in the middle of the basketball court. When she was done, she said "okay, now everyone write their name around the hat"

Everyone took a piece of chalk, and wrote their name around the hat. Lucas and Peyton signed next to each other and Lucas added 2 hearts around their names, and then kissed Peyton on the forehead.

"What if it rains?" Haley laughed

"It will disappear dawg?" Skillz said

"I have a better idea" Brooke said.

Everyone followed Brooke, to a tree next to the river court.

"Everyone carve their name into the tree. "That way, it will last forever"

"You mean until they cut it down?" Lucas joked.

Everyone laughed.

Haley started to walk off, Nathan saw her, and he caught up to her.

"Nathan, what are you doing?"

"Hales, I really think we should talk."

"Actually, I do have to talk to you about something, something important"

Mouth told Shelly he could walk her home if she wanted. She agreed. Shelly and Mouth were both going to Canada for University.

"I can't believe you're following me to Canada, it's a little far no?" Shelly asked.

"Come on Shelly, I love you. Wherever you go, I go." Mouth replied.

Shelly put her head on Mouth's shoulder, he smiled, and he walked her home.

Lucas got a text message from his mom. "I have to go guys."

Lucas got up, and kissed Peyton "I love you" he said.

"I love you too"

"I'll call you tonight"

"Alright."

"Bye Brooke" he said.

"See you later buddy" she said

Once everyone had left, Brooke and Peyton walked down the streets of Tree Hill, and tried to remember every little detail of it. They promised each other that they would stay in touch, whether that meant email, phone calls, or even postal mail.

"I can't believe we're going our separate ways tomorrow Brooke"

"I know…why couldn't LA and New York be closer together?"

Peyton and Brooke laughed together.

"You're my best friend B. Davis"

"And you're my bestest friend too P. Sawyer"

Both of them looked at each other, and started to cry, and gave each other a hug.

"Peyton, this can't be the end…"

"It's not, it's just the beginning"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Today, was the day that they had all been looking forward to. The day, that they would move out from their parents home, and leave Tree Hill forever, and start new lives somewhere.

Bevin and Skillz had moved to Connecticut together, both were going to Boston College. Bevin was going to become a model, and Skillz got a scholarship for basketball.

Mouth and Shelley were the next ones to leave. They were going to go study medicine in Toronto. Their flight was early in the morning so called everyone to say their final good-bye.

Later that day, everyone else met at Karen's Café for the last time.

Brooke, Peyton, Lucas and Haley were already there when Nathan and Rachel came in. Haley looked down, and got up to go to the kitchen. Brooke got up and went to go hug Rachel.

"Are you okay" Brooke asked.

"No, I'm not, Noah dumped me this morning. He said that we were going different ways, and that he couldn't do the whole long distance thing. And it just broke my heart. But... I'm accepting it now."

"I'm so sorry Rach." Peyton said

"Yeah…thanks…"

Nathan rubbed Rachel's back. Haley came out of the kitchen, and Nathan quickly took his hand off her back.

"Nathan, I need to talk to you, please"

Nathan walked over to the kitchen. "What is it?"

"I want a divorce"

"What?"

"A divorce, I'm leaving for Stanford in a couple of hours, and you're leaving for Duke. And it's not going to work, so I want a divorce."

"Haley, please"

"No. we're done"

Haley walked away, and went to hug Lucas.

"Guys, I have to go finish packing. Have a great summer, and keep in touch"

Haley left the Café in a rush.

Nathan came back to the table. "It's over" he said with his head down "Haley, and I are over…for good."

"I'm so sorry Nathan" Rachel said. "Is there anything I could do for you?"

"No, I'm fine. Come on, let's talk. We only have a few more hours together."

They all sat down around the table and started talking about things they wanted to accomplish, things that they wanted to see in their new life…

"What are your plans for the summer guys?" Lucas asked.

"Well, I was planning on coming down here for about 3 weeks to be with you Luke" Peyton said.

"I'm leaving straight for New York, might go visit my parents in Los Angeles" Brooke said.

"I'm going to Europe" Rachel said.

"I'm not doing anything" Nathan said

Rachel turned to Nathan "Why don't you come with me? Come on, it would be so much fun! I have an extra ticket that was suppose to be Noah's!"

"Really?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah. I mean, come on, we've grown pretty close these past 2 weeks. And plus we can use this trip to get over Noah and Haley. So what do you say?"

"I say hell yeah." Nathan said

Brooke, Lucas and Peyton all had shocked looks on their faces. Lucas got up from the table.

"Nate, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Yeah, sure what's up?"

Lucas made sure the girls couldn't hear what he was about to say, "what's going on with you and Rachel"

Nathan looks at Rachel…"I don't know man. She's fun, she makes me laugh"

"So you're really going to take this trip with her?"

"You bet I am. I mean, it's Europe, plus with a hot chick. Win, win"

"You know you're sounding like you're old self right?"

"Come on…me and Rachel are having fun…if It turns into anything serious…you'll be the first to know" Nathan said, and then walked back to the table.

"Rach, you wanna go now. I have to pack up some more stuff since we're gonna go to Europe together."

Rachel raises her eyebrows "You bet Nate. Let's go"

Brooke hugs Rachel, while Peyton hugs Nathan, and then they switch. Nathan puts his arm around Rachel and they walk out of the café together.

Peyton turns to Brooke and Lucas "Okay that was really weird"

"Is it just me or do Rachel and Nathan look like a couple?" Brooke asked.

"No…they do" Lucas replied

"What about Haley?" Peyton said.

"Looks like he's moved on" Brooke said.

There was a moment of silence at the table.

"I have to go. My plane leaves in an hour, and I have everything in the car"

"Let us drive you Brooke" Lucas insisted

"You want to take me to the airport?" Brooke asked

"Brooke, you've been my best friend since we were kids, and there's a risk that I might never see you again. I'm going to spend every moment I can with you"

Brooke and Peyton hug, and then they all walk out of the Café and head for Brooke's car. In the car Brooke puts on "As Long As You Love Me by BSB" and the girls start singing it.

"You know I had the biggest crush on Brian" Peyton told Lucas

"Really?" Lucas said with a curious look on his face.

"Yeah…he was the cutest. Brooke, who did you have a crush on again?" Peyton asked her

"Peyton! I was Mrs. Davis Carter…remember" Brooke said sarcastically

Both of them laughed together.

"You know, I feel so excluded in this conversation" Lucas said

"Well who did you have a crush on Luke?" Brooke asked.

"Pamela Anderson … still do" Lucas fantasised

Brooke and Peyton look at each other and then both hit Lucas

"Hey! Stop. Brooke! Eyes on the road" Lucas screamed

"Right…sorry" Brooke said quickly

The girls were still laughing, and Lucas looked out the window still fantasying about Pamela Anderson.

Brooke pulled into the airport and parked the car. "Peyton, you're going to take this home right. I want you to have it, since you're driving to Peyton, since that loser trashed your old black convertible."

"Ah. Thanks Brooke. But you think I could pull off a white car?"

"Are you crazy? You look FABULOUS!"

Brooke and Peyton walked into the airport together, having Lucas dragging all of Brooke's luggages behind them.

"Okay. This is it" Brooke said as they pulled up to her gate. Time to say goodbye"

"Promise we'll call each other everyday!" Peyton said

"Promise we'll myspace" Brooke said

"Promise we'll email" Peyton said

"Promise we'll postal mail" Brooke laughed.

"I Promise"

"I Promise"

"Come on, you got to get in there and we're not going to delay you anymore" Lucas said

"Right…a new life is beginning, and an old life in concluding. I want you to have fun okay" Peyton said.

"I will never forget you. You're my best friend." Brooke said and a tear shed on her cheek

"You matter who I meet, you will always be my best friend Brooke." Peyton told her

Brooke hugs Peyton, wanting never to let her go. Lucas breaks them up. "Come on Brooke, you're going to be late" Lucas gives Brooke a hug. "Be safe" he said "and have fun"

"We'll see each other again. Won't we?" Brooke said

"Definitely" Peyton answered

Brooke walked up to the gate and passed the glass doors to the department where they checked the baggage's. Lucas and Peyton held each other while they watched Brooke go. Brooke turned around and waved with a smile. Lucas and Peyton waved back.

After Brooke was gone, Peyton and Lucas decided to go hang out at Peyton and Brooke's loft until Peyton had to leave that night.

As they pulled into the driveway they saw a young man on the stairs. They ran over to him

"What are you doing here?" Peyton asked in shock

"Where's Brooke? I have to talk to her" he asked

"She's gone…she left for New York" Peyton told him

"Has the plane left yet" he asked

Lucas looks at his watch. "It's leaving in 30 minutes dude"

"I have to tell her something really important" he said.

And then ran after to his car, and zoomed out of there.

Lucas and Peyton looked at each other in shock.

"Come on, let's go inside" Lucas said

"Oh. And Mr. Scott what did you have in mind" Peyton asked

"Oh…just a little this (kiss her neck) a little bit of that (kisses her lips)"

"Oh. I like it"

(door closes)

Boarding Call for New York

"That's my call" Brooke said. She got in line to get on the plane

(Eye of the Tiger comes on)

A car zooms very quickly to the airport, doesn't even park properly and runs into the airport.

The guy is running quickly through the people in the airport, he got to the gate

"Where is your ticket sir. You are very late the plane is about to take off" said the lady

"I don't have a ticket with me…but there's someone on that plane that I need to talk to"

"I'm sorry. If you don't have a ticket you can't get on"

The guy pushes through, and runs through the terminal.

"After him!!" the lady yelled.

The door was closing.

"Excuse me, do I have time to go to the washroom" Brooke asked the lady offering drinks.

"Yes you do, but be quick" she said.

"Okay thank you. Where are they?" Brooke asked

"All the way in the front and then take a left" she replied.

"Thank you." Brooke replied. She took off her seatbelt and got up.

"There's a bathroom back here" said a familiar voice

Brooke turned around "Chase…" she said with a smile on her face.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

Brooke looks in shock at the guy that she once thought she loved. He walked up to her seat, and said,

"You know that day when we signed each other's yearbook. And you wrote something so special, so amazing, you were telling me how you felt about me, and what did I do…like a jackass I blew you off. And that wasn't cool. What I'm trying to tell you is, that"… Chase exhales "I was scared. My ex-girlfriend Lizzie broke my heart, and I didn't want it to happen again. I'm scared to love again, but I realised I couldn't run from love forever. And I realised I do love you.

Brooke had the biggest smile in the world on her face.

"What I'm trying to say is. You know all those things in the yearbook you wrote Brooke, I want them too, and I want them with you. I just felt like I should tell you before you leave for New York"

Chase turns around and starts to walk to get off the plane. Brooke grabbed his hand.

"I love you Chase, and I want to make it work."

Chase smiles, and grabs her so that they are very close together. Chase brushes her hair to the side and kisses her very gently. Their kiss then turns into a deep passionate kiss. Brooke's foot raises, and she gets on her tippy-toes. Everyone on the plane start clapping.

Brooke and Chase stop kissing, look around, and then laugh. Brooke puts her head on Chase's shoulder, and he holds her tight.

"I want you to come with me Chase." Brooke said.

"To New York?" Chase asked.

"Yeah." Brooke told him

"What am I coming to do in New York?" Chase asked her.

"Be with me?" Brooke replied. "And, we'll find you a job"

"Count me in" he told her.

Chase kisses her again.

Rachel opened the drapes, and the sunshine brightened the room. Nathan was still in bad like a lazy-bum.

"Nathan, wake up!" Rachel said pulling him in out bed

"5 more minutes…!" Nathan said

"Come on. We're in France! We have to go see everything!" Rachel screamed.

Rachel went to her room and got dressed.

"You better be ready in 10 minutes" she screamed from her room.

When Rachel was finished getting dressed, she ran to Nathan's room, and he was still in bed.

"Fine. I'm locking you in here all day mister, if you don't get up this instance!"

Nathan lifted his head from the pillow. "Have fun!" he said, and then put his head back down on the pillow"

"Nathan! I'm serious get up, or I will search you in places you don't want me to search you!" she screamed.

"You know, that really wouldn't bother me, you wouldn't be disappointed you know" Nathan said.

"A little cocky no? Don't flatter yourself!" Rachel told him.

"Okay, okay I'm coming." Nathan said, as he started getting dressed, and then looked at Rachel because she wasn't moving, and gave her a weird look.

"Oh right. I have to leave. I'll wait for you … outside." She said hesitant.

Peyton was all by herself in Los Angeles. She had no friends yet and didn't know where anything was. She was feeling a little quirky that day. She went to her meeting with the executive producer of the company where she applied. It went well, but she was really dizzy for some really. After her meeting she wondered what was wrong with her. She thought maybe it was the food that she had eaten the night before. Then, her phone rang. It was Brooke.

"Hey Brooke!" Peyton said very excited.

"Peyton! Chase came and swept me off my feet on the airplane last night!"

"What! Are you guys back together?"

"Yes. Yeah, we are. He came to New York with me!"

"Wow, Brooke, that's so great!"

"What's going on with you and Luke?"

"Oh. Nothing. We just made love last night. And it was fantastic!"

"Wow. Please spare me the details…"

"Okay. I will"

Then it hit Peyton.

"Oh my God!" Peyton screamed.

"What!" Brooke yelled.

"Brooke…I'll call you back. Bye." Peyton hung up the phone.

"Peyton? Peyton!" Brooke yelled.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3

Nathan and Rachel are walking back to their hotel after their long day of touring Paris. They had climbed to the top of the Eiffel tower together, ate French bread and cheese at a little café near the water, and went to the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa. They took lots of pictures as well.

"Thanks for coming with me Nathan. I don't think I would have enjoyed this trip by myself." Rachel told him

"No problem. It was my pleasure. We both need each other right now." He said

Rachel looked down and started to cry.

"What's the matter Rachel?" he asked concerned.

"It shouldn't be like this Nathan. I should with Noah, and you should be with Haley" she told him

"Hey…come on" Nathan said

"It's true!" Rachel said with a sob.

"If it's true, then why aren't with them now" Nathan asked her "Come on, I hate seeing you like this Rach. I'm going to buy you an ice cream"

Brooke sat on the couch very confused. She closed her phone, and looked

"Hey, what's wrong" Chase said as came out of the bathroom, and saw Brooke upset.

"It's Peyton…something's wrong!" Brooke said

"What do you mean?" Chase asked

"I just called her, and … something's not right Chase" she told him.

"Well… call her back" Chase said.

"I will. But there's something I want to do first"

"Oh really?" he asked. "What's that?"

Brooke kissed him.

"Oh…" Chase said surprised. "That…" and kissed her back

Chase flipped her around and the two of the started making out on the couch.

Peyton hung up the phone, and couldn't breathe. "Okay, Peyton you're over reacting." She told herself. She started freaking out. Peyton ran down to the lobby of her buildings lobby. And asked the clerk where the pharmacy was. Peyton ran outside to the pharmacy. He went to the back where the pharmacists were. Peyton asked where the pregnancy tests where. Peyton walked very quickly to the isle that the pharmacist told her. She took a pregnancy test and went to go pay for it. She brought it home when cell rang.

Nathan and Rachel brought the ice cream back to the hotel.

"You want to watch a movie or something?" Nathan said.

"How about we play some video games" Rachel insisted

"You play video games?" Nathan asked

"Of course. Just because I'm a slut, doesn't mean I don't know how to play some awesome basketball on PS2.

"You are so on" Nathan said with a laugh.

Nathan poured some coke for the two of them.

"What are you doing?" Rachel asked.

"Just bringing you a drink." He replied

"if we're going to have drinks" Rachel said. "Then we're going to have real drinks" she winked.

Rachel went to the fridge and took out some beers.

"Oh, a beer drinker, I like it." Nathan said.

Nathan and Rachel started playing NBA Street on the Play Station 2.

Nathan had won 5 games now, Rachel had won none.

"You're good" Rachel told him

"Thanks…I'm the king" Nathan said lying back

"Shut up!" Rachel said and hit him with a pillow.

It was silent for about a minute. Rachel grabbed the pillow and held it close.

Nathan got up from lying down.

"Are you okay?" Nathan said.

"Not really…" Rachel said

"I know how to get a smile on your face Rach." He said

"I doubt it."

"Well. I remember that you're very ticklish" he said and turned to tickle her

"Nathan. Don't!" Rachel said and started to laugh.

Nathan started tickling Rachel.

"Nathan stop!" she said laughing trying to fight him off.

Nathan was on top of Rachel now, and stopped tickling her. They both looked into each other's eyes. Rachel pulled up for a kiss but then went brought her lips back down. Nathan went in for a kiss.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4

Peyton looked at her phone. It was Brooke calling again. Should she pick it up? Could she really be pregnant? Peyton picked up the phone and answered it.

"Hey Brooke." Peyton said.

"Peyton, what's wrong?" Brooke asked her

"I think I might be pregnant." Peyton told her.

"What! Did you take a test?" Brooke screamed

"I just went out to go get one!" Peyton said.

"Take it! Brooke said, "And call me back"

"Okay…fine" Peyton said and then hung up the phone.

Brooke exhales. "Oh boy"

"Is Peyton okay?" Chase asked Brooke

"She's scared." Brooke told him

"Scared? Why?" Chase asked confused

"Peyton might be pregnant" Brooke said

"Pregnant!" Chase said "That's great no?"

"Chase…she's not ready to be a mother…" Brooke said

"And Haley was?" he asked.

"No. but she had Nathan by her side." She replied

"And Peyton doesn't have Lucas by her side" he said

"Not really. Lucas is in Tree Hill. Peyton's in L.A" she said. "It's a complicated situation" Brooke said.

Rachel and Nathan we're kissing on the bed. Rachel opens her eyes, and throws Nathan off. "Hey!" Nathan said flying off the bed.

"Sorry! Nathan! What just happened?" Rachel said.

"We kissed." Nathan said.

"This is really wrong. You still love Haley…and I still love Noah."

"If it's wrong, then why does it feel so right Rach?" Nathan said interrupting her.

Haley was in the Stanford studio practising her new song. Her agent came to her, and told her that a lot of people wanted to hear love duets, and told that her love songs we're great. But if she wanted her music to sell she had to find a partner.

"A partner" Haley asked, "No. I work alone, I'm sorry."

"We already found someone Haley" her producer said

"Who?" Haley asked, "I mean you can't just team me up with a complete stranger and expect us to sound good."

"You've worked with him before. And you sounded amazing Haley" he said.

"What?" Haley asked confused.

A man came into the room with his guitar. "Hey Haley" he said.

"Keller!" Haley shrieked and ran to give him a hug.

Peyton was in the bathroom pacing back and forth. She picked up the phone call Brooke.

"Breathe in, breath out" she told herself.

Brooke and Chase were making out on the couch again when the phone rang. Brooke pushed Chase off. Brooke answered the phone.

"Okay. What's going on?" she asked.

"The test isn't ready yet Brooke." Peyton replied, "I'm really scared."

"Come on, you don't even know if you are pregnant Peyt, and if you are, it's not the end of the world. you will make a great mother, and Lucas will come and help you. And there's always different things you can do to not have the baby"

"Brooke, I don't think you understand. I want to have a baby, especially with Lucas. And if it's unexpected, then so be it. I love him Brooke." Peyton said.

"Wait. You want to have a baby" Brooke asked.

"Yeah. I want to have a baby" she replied.

The timer went off. Brooke heard it threw the phone.

"Moment of truth" Peyton said

Brooke exhales. Peyton looks at the test.

"Oh my God!" Peyton screams


	6. Chapter 6

Chris and Haley sat down at a cute Italian restaurant on the pier.

"So how's the baby Hales?" Chris asked her.

"Oh, he didn't make it Chris" Haley said when a tear rolled off her cheek.

"Oh Haley, I'm so sorry." Chris said.

"It's okay. You didn't know." Haley told him

Chris looked at the menu and decided that he was going to have the lamb.

"What about Nathan," he asked, "How's he taking all this?" he asked.

Haley looked down at the menu.

"It's over between me and Nathan…forever" Haley said, "We're getting a divorce"

Rachel got off the bed, and started to pace back and forth. Nathan looked at her, waiting for an answer to his statement. When finally she answered, "Nathan, you just said if it's wrong why does it feel so right?"

"Yeah, I did say that," he replied. "You know, I started off this vacation thinking we we're friends, and we could stay friends. But lately I've been having feelings for you Rachel.

Rachel looked at him in shock, and started to pace again.

"So let me get this straight. You want to be with me?" Rachel asked.

Nathan smiled, grabbed her and kissed her.

Peyton kept looking at the pregnancy test. She couldn't believe her eyes. Brooke was waiting very impatiently on the other end of the phone.

"Peyton! What does the test say!" Brooke screamed into the phone

"It's positive Brooke!" Peyton said with joy

"It's positive?" Brooke started jumping up and down.

"I have to tell Lucas…I have to tell Lucas he's going to be a father Brooke." Peyton said

"okay, call me tomorrow." Brooke replied.

Chase came back into the apartment to see Brooke dancing to "This is what dreams are made of" by Hilary Duff, around the room.

"Hunny, I'm home" he joked.

Brooke laughed and went to go give him a hug "How was job hunting?" she said and then gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Interesting…"Chase said.

"Oh yeah? Why's that?" Brooke questioned.

"Well I dropped by that fashion studio you were telling me about in Tree Hill, and some lady pulled me into her office and told me I was just what they were looking for!"

"Looking for what?" Brooke asked excited.

"They want me to model…" Chase said. "with other girls…in swimsuits"

Brooke had a weird expression on her face.

Late that night, Lucas got home from a long day at work. He went to go check his messages, and there was one from Peyton. He smiled and pressed the button to hear the message.

"Hey Lucas, it's Peyton, you're cell's turned off so I left you a message at home…anyways I really have to talk to you. So please call me when you get this, no matter the time. I really have to talk to you. It's very important. Bye."

Lucas picked up the phone and called Peyton's cell. Peyton picked up the phone.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hey beautiful, how are you doing?"

"I'm very good, how are you?"

"Good. Missing you though."

"Yeah. I miss you too." Peyton said. "Lucas, I have to tell you something"

"Yeah I know, you sounded weird on the message, is everything okay." Lucas replied

"Well that all depends" Peyton said.

"Depends on what?" he asked

"On you" she said back

"On me? Lucas questioned. "Okay, what's going on?"

"This is going to shock you at first Lucas."

"Peyton, just tell me. We don't keep secrets remember?"

"I'm pregnant." Peyton said.


	7. Chapter 7

Chase looked at Brooke, Brooke was frozen. Chase waved his hand across her face for her to zone out back to reality.

"Hello?" he said.

"Sorry. About it…"

"So…are you okay with this Brooke?" Chase said. "because if you're not, then I won't take the job."

"Are you kidding! You have to take this job Chase! You're going to be a great model!" Brooke said. "Hey, you and Rachel could be partners."

Brooke thought about what she just said… "Ah…never mind"

Chase laughed.

There was an awkward silence between the two of them.

"Lucas?" she asked to make sure he was still there.

"Yeah. I'm here. I'm just trying to take this all in Peyton" Lucas said.

"I understand." Peyton told him. "What we're dealing with here is huge!"

Lucas exhales

"So what do you think?" Peyton asked him.

"I don't know Peyton. I mean its bad enough that I'm not there to be with you." Lucas said.

"Yeah… I thought you might say that…" Peyton replied.

"Peyton…you have to get rid of it!" he said finally.

Rachel and Nathan were on the plane to Italy. It was going to be a short flight.

"Nathan, can you give me that pillow over there." Rachel said, "I'm really tired, because I didn't sleep last night."

"Rachel, I slept like a baby! It was so quiet!" Nathan replied.

"Quiet?" Rachel asked. "You know you snore really, really loudly!" Rachel screamed.

"No… I do?" Nathan questioned. "You we're in your room though!"

"Yeah I know! Rachel exclaimed. "I have to admit I was impressed."

"Well. There are so many other things I can impress you with" he said.

Nathan put his arm around her and pulled her in for a kiss.

"Was that one of them?" Rachel joked pulling away from the kiss.

"Come on baby! Let's go check out you're new studio." Brooke said. "Maybe, I can get me an interview."

Chase laughed and followed her out the door. As they got into the car Brooke put on "Don't matter" by Akon, and started singing.

"You know, you should really try out for American Idol…you're voice is great" Chase said.

"Are you making fun of me Chase?" Brooke said and then hit him.

"No… I'm serious!" Chase answered.

Chase and Brooke started singing together.

Nathan and Rachel land in Italy.

"So what do you want to do first?"

"Let's go to the Trivi Fountain, and make a wish!"

Rachel asked the locals where the fountain was, and one of them pointed up ahead.

"Come on" Rachel ran towards the fountain. Nathan followed her.

"Here, take this quarter" Nathan said giving it to Rachel.

Rachel turned around, let it close and then released it. "Let me and Nathan fall in love" she told her. The quarter landed in the water with a big splash.

Chase looked at Brooke

"You're beautiful Brooke," Chase said to her, "How did I ever get so lucky?"

All of a sudden a truck pulls out of no where. Brooke screams "look out!"

Chase looks at steering wheel and slams the breaks. The trunk was heading right for them. And then **SMASH!**


	8. Chapter 8

The guy that was driving got out of his car and ran for Brooke's car.

"Oh my god!" he told himself. "I killed them."

Chase started to move, the man from the car saw his fingers move and that put a smile on his face.

"Brooke? Where's Brooke?" Chase said as he started to remember.

"Calm down sir. You we're in an accident. I really should take you to the hospital"

Chase looked over at Brooke, and screamed "Brooke, come on, wake up hunny, I can't loose you. Not now." Chase got out of the car and ran to the passenger's side of the car. He picked Brooke up, got her out of the car, and started to walk. But he didn't know where to go. New York City was huge.

The guy from the car told them that the hospital wasn't too far and told them that he was really sorry but he had to go. The man ran to his car and drove off. Chase tried to run with Brooke in his arms. "Come on Brooke, stay with me baby"

Peyton was still on the phone with Lucas, but there was no talking going on. Peyton was trying to understand what Lucas had just said.

"Get rid of it?" Peyton yelled on the phone

"Peyton, you're not ready to become a mother, and I'm not ready to become a father!" Lucas told her

"I can't believe this; you want me to give up my BABY!" Peyton screamed.

"Peyton, come on, don't get upset."

"Upset?" Peyton said, "I have a call waiting. Got to go"

"Okay. Call me later. I love you" he said

"Yeah, whatever." Peyton said as she hung up the phone.

"Hello?" Peyton said as she picked up the next call.

"Peyton, it's Chase, Brooke's been in an accident" Chase said as he almost started to cry.

"What happened?!" Peyton screamed.

"We were hit by a car, and I woke up, and I ran with Brooke in my arms to the hospital, and now they are preparing for surgery" Chase said. "They don't know if she's going to make it Peyton, and I'm really scared."

"Chase?" Peyton said. "It's going to be okay. I'm getting on the first plane out of here and I'm coming you understand me!?"

"Yeah." Chase said.

Peyton hung up the phone, and ran out the door, got in a cab, and told the taxi driver, "Airport"

"Rachel. Come on we're going to be late!!" Nathan screamed to Rachel while she was getting changed.

"I'm coming, I'm coming" Rachel said.

"The plane is leaving in an hour you realise that?" Nathan said.

"Yeah. But we can run" Rachel smiled.

Nathan kissed her and pulled her out the door "Come on"

Peyton ran threw the airport, asking where she could go to get a ticket for the next plane to New York. "Please it's an emergency, my best friend is in the hospital, and she is in critical condition."

The people at the ticket counter looked, "there is one leaving in 4 hours. Is that fine?"

"Is there anything sooner?" Peyton asked.

"I'm afraid not" she said.

"Fine, I'll take it"

Lucas got a text message from Chase saying the same stuff he said to Peyton, and he too was off to the airport.

Later, on the plane. Rachel and Nathan we're talking about the future.

"When we get to Duke, we're going to go to my dorm, and we're going to have a little fun of our own."

"Nathan, are you seducing me?" Rachel asked in surprise

"Is it working?" Nathan said with a smile.

"Nathan, I want to tell you something. I want to wait." Rachel said in all honesty.

"What?" Nathan asked, "Rachel, come on, it's you."

"I don't want to be that person anymore Nathan." Rachel told him. "I don't want this relationship to be just about sex. I want to fall in love. And I want to fall in love with you."

6 hours later

Peyton got off the plane and ran for a cab. She called Chase. The phone was ringing.

"Come on Chase pick up the phone!"

He finally picked it up. "Hello?" he said.

"Hey. It's Peyton." I'm in New York. What hospital are you at?"

"Saint-Gabriel General Hospital" Chase replied.

"Okay. How is Brooke?" Peyton asked.

"Well, she's out of surgery, but she's fallen in a coma." Chase said crying

"A COMA!" Peyton shrieked. "Alright, I'll see you soon." and hung up the phone.

Chase was sitting on a chair outside of Brooke's room. The doctor came out of the room.

Chase got up. "Doctor, how is she?"

"Better then when you got her here that's for sure." The doctor replied. "Brooke has fall into a coma like I told you before."

"She will wake up right!" Chase says.

"It's possible." The doctor said.

"So there is a chance she won't make it?" Chase asked.

"Right now, I'd say it's about 50/50 shot" the doctor said. "I have another patient waiting. I'm so sorry. But you can go in there, and talk to her."

The doctor left to go see his other patient. Chase went in to go talk to Brooke.

Chase saw Brooke laying down on the on bed, and couldn't help but cry. He pulled himself together, walked over to Brooke's bed, and sat in the chair. Chase looked down, held her hand, and started to cry.

"Brooke, if anything happens to you, I will never forgive myself you hear me. Never! I've never been in love before. You showed me how to fall in love Brooke. After I found out my best friend was sleeping around with my girlfriend. I didn't think that I would ever love again. But I did. And I fell in love with you Brooke. I could love you forever, and I truly mean that. I could see us growing old together Brooke, having a family, spoiling grandchildren. And I know you want the same thing, so for that to happen. You have to wake up, to have to come back to me." Chase said to her, and then kissed her hand.

Peyton came running in the door, saw Brooke and started to cry. "Oh my god" she said.

Chase looked up at Peyton. Got her to calm down and gave her a hug. "Peyton, Brooke doesn't need this."

Peyton nodded "Can I have some time alone with her?"

"Sure." Chase said. "I'll wait outside" and left.

The door closed. Peyton walked over to Brooke.

"B. Davis, I'm here. You got me to New York. Remember when we were little you always said that something huge would happen and we would be in New York with our funky apartments. Well something huge did happen. You're in a coma! And you have to get out of it, because I don't know what I would do without you Brooke. You're my best friend, you always will be. I don't want you to forget that. Remember all the good times Brooke? Sleepovers we had? Boys we loved? Boys that broke our hearts? Our Wednesday night movie nights? I miss those times Brooke. Who's going to be there in the future Brooke? Who's going to help me raise this baby? Lucas isn't. he wants me to get an abortion Brooke. I don't want an abortion. I want this baby. You have to wake up. Please. Peyton said, "I can't do this."

Peyton walked out of the room. Chase was waiting outside. Peyton went to give Chase a hug.

"Hey, don't cry" he said wiping her tears. "Have you eaten anything?"

"No." she replied

"Go to the cafeteria, and eat something." He said.

Peyton went off to the cafeteria.

Tonight I want to cry by Keith Urban – chorus starts to play

Chase walked into Brooke's room. He her hand and told her,

"Brooke, we've been threw so much together. I'm so happy that I met you, that I kissed you, that I held you. I need you to wake up, I need to see those beautiful brown eyes of yours open again, and I need to see your beautiful smile once again. I need to kiss you again; I need to hold you again.

Remember the first time we met? Chase smiles threw Clean Teens. And then I took you out for dinner, and you told me you couldn't believe I never had sex. Then I took you dancing, and told you about my family. Then we had ice cream, and you told me about your plan. And what about when I came knocking on your doorstep for you to forgive me. Wow, I'm such a loser. But it was worth it Brooke, but I got you back. Then what happened? Oh yeah. You told me that you wanted to turn yourself in for the stolen calculus exam, and I told you I loved you. Then I ran to Principal Turner and told him to not expel you, and you told me you loved me. Dirty text messages Chase laughed Brooke, you always told me to pour my emotions to you, and that you wanted me to open up, and let you all the way in, and that's what I'm doing. I'm pouring my heart to you, and hopefully you hear it."

Brooke's hand moved.

To be continued….


	9. Chapter 9

Peyton was in the cafeteria when Lucas came running to her table. Peyton was startled to see him.

"What are you doing here Lucas?" she asked him.

"I heard about Brooke, Peyton" he replied.

"Oh." Peyton said in disappointment.

"Peyton, I really think we should talk about our last conversation." Lucas said, "Can I sit?"

"Sure." Peyton said.

Lucas pulled up a chair and said. "Peyton, it wasn't fair what I did to you and I'm sorry."

"Yeah, you're right. It wasn't fair." Peyton said to him.

"I'm sorry, okay. When you told me that you were pregnant Peyton, I flipped out, I mean, you can't raise a child by yourself! And I want to be there for our baby, Peyton. I thought about it on the plane, I love you, and I want to have a family with you. I just thought that I would be married before having a kid. I was scared to tell you the truth. And I want you to have this baby."

"You do?" Peyton asked.

"Yeah, I do."

Nathan and Rachel arrived at Duke. They held hands, trying to find his dorm. The campus was huge, and he didn't know where to go. They went to the Administration room, and asked a curly hair blond man where Dorm B was. He asked him if he was Nathan Scott.

"Yeah, I'm Nathan Scott" Nathan replied.

"I'm sorry, but we cut your scholarship." He said.

"What?" Nathan asked.

"Point-shaving is not the way" he said. "I'm sorry."

Rachel rubbed his back. "Come on, let's go."

Nathan put his arm around Rachel, and they walked out onto the campus.

"Hold on, let me just check my messages" Rachel said.

Rachel opened her phone, and there was a voicemail.

"Rachel, it's Chase, Brooke's been in an accident and she's in a coma, and since you 2 were close, I thought maybe you would want to know. Got to go, the doctor is here." The voicemail said.

"Oh my God." Rachel said in a panic.

"What's wrong?" Nathan asked.

"It's Brooke…she's been in an accident." Rachel said.

Chase was holding Brooke's hand when it moved.

"Chase?" Brooke said weakly.

Chase looked up, and saw Brooke's eyes open.

"Brooke! Oh my God." Chase said as he went to hug her.

"What … happened?" Brooke asked.

"We were in a car accident Brooke." Chase told her

"A car accident?" Brooke asked. "Are you okay?"

Chase smiled. "You're the one in the hospital bed, and you're worried about me? I'm fine."

"Good." Brooke said with a smile on her face. "Water?"

"What?" Chase asked.

"I need water." Brooke said.

"Oh…" Chase said and filled up a cup of water, and then handed it to Brooke.

Brooke drank the water. "Thank you" Brooke said.

"Did you hear what I said?" Chase asked.

"Every word," Brooke said. "I love you so much."

"I love you too." Chase said, and then leaned over to kiss her.

The door opened, Peyton and Lucas we're standing in the doorway. Peyton saw that Brooke was awake, her eyes went huge, and walked over by her side and said, "Brooke, you're awake."

"What, did you think I was going to leave you all by yourself raising a child?" Brooke asked.

"You heard that." Peyton said.

"I heard everything." Brooke smiled.

"Brooke, I think you should sit up, I mean you were lying down for about 10 hours." Chase said.

Brooke went to sit up. "My legs," Brooke said.

"What about them?" Peyton said.

"I can't move them"


	10. Chapter 10

Rachel saw that Nathan was feeling down, after their visit at Duke.

"Come on Nate, cheer up…please?" Rachel said.

"I'm sorry. Duke was my dream though" Nathan replied.

"I know." Rachel said. "We could always take a year off and work, and then next year when we have enough money, we could go to college…together?"

Nathan smiled. "I like that idea"

Brooke started to panic.

"What do you mean you can't feel your legs Brooke?" Chase said.

"I mean, they aren't there!" Brooke replied.

Peyton pulled the blanket off Brooke's legs to see what she was talking about. Her legs were there. Her legs were fine.

"Brooke, your legs are fine" Peyton replied.

"No, I'm telling you, I can't move my legs!" Brooke screamed.

"I'll go get a doctor" Lucas said as he ran out the door.

Lucas ran to the doctor's station, told him what had happened, and the doctor came running to Brooke's room. Brooke was crying on the bed. The doctor walked up to Brooke's bed, and told everyone to step outside. Everyone obeyed the doctors' order. Peyton and Lucas sat down next to each other, and Chase sat across from them.

"I think I owe congratulations to you two." Chase said to the happy couple.

Peyton smiled. Chase got up to give Peyton a hug.

"So what are you guys going to do?" Chase asked.

"We're having the baby" Peyton said.

"Really? Together?" Chase asked.

Rachel and Nathan came running into the hospital; they saw Chase, Peyton and Lucas and ran over to them. Rachel was in tears. "How is she?" she asked.

"She's out of a coma, which is amazing" Peyton said.

Rachel went to hug Peyton. "We came as soon as we could" Nathan said.

"So she's out of a coma?" Rachel asked. "Isn't that really rare?"

"Yeah, well the doctor told us that Brooke had a 50/50 chance" Chase said. "But yeah, it's still amazing. These kinds of things usually take a long period of time."

"But Brooke can't feel her legs" Lucas said.

Nathan and Rachel had weird looks on their faces.

"What do you mean?" Nathan asked.

The doctor came out of the room. Chase ran to him "Doctor, what's going on?"

Everyone stood around the doctor.

"It seems like Brooke's legs aren't working because of the accident."

"So she's paralysed." Peyton asked.

"I wouldn't say paralysed for life, but she will need a wheelchair for only God knows how long." He replied. "I'm sorry"

Peyton and Rachel started to cry.

"Does Brooke know?" Lucas asked.

"No, I haven't told her." The doctor replied.

"I should be the one to tell her guys." Chase said. "This is all my fault"

"Chase, this is not your fault okay!" Peyton said as she rubbed his back.

"Yeah, it is. If I didn't want to go take that modeling job, we would have never been in the car." Chase replied.

"Chase, you couldn't possibly know that an idiot would run a red light" Rachel assured him.

"I feel responsible." Chase said. "Now, I'm going to tell the women I love that she's never going to walk again."

Chase walked into Brooke's room. Lucas held Peyton, and Nathan held Rachel, as the ladies cried for their best friend.

Chase entered the room. Brooke looked at him. "Where have you been Chase?" she asked. "What did the doctor say? Why aren't my legs working?"

Chase held her hand. "Brooke, you're paralysed."

Brooke took her hand away from his. "What?" she asked in confusion. "No, it can't be. No way"

Chase held her. Brooke started to tear up. "No, no, this can't be happening Chase. I'm never going to walk again? I'm going to be in a wheelchair the rest of my life!"

"No, not the rest of your life Brooke" Chase said.

"So for how long then?" Brooke asked. "A week?"

"He doesn't know" Chase said.

"Doctors are paid too much money to not know!" Brooke screamed.

"I know," Chase said holding her. "It's all my fault, I'm so sorry"

Brooke pulled away from Chase, "What do you mean it's your fault?"

"Well if it wasn't for that stupid job, we would have never been in the car Brooke. I'm so sorry." Chase said.

"It's not your fault Chase." Brooke said picking up his head. "I don't want you blaming yourself. I love you too much to blame you."

"Okay. What's going on with you two?" Peyton asked Nathan and Rachel.

Rachel and Nathan looked at each other and laughed. "What do you mean?" Nathan asked.

"Okay, you know what she means Nate, just answer the question" Lucas said.

Nathan turned to Rachel. "Do you want to tell them or should I?" Nathan asked.

"We're a couple" Rachel said.

Peyton and Lucas both looked in shock at the couple. Peyton got up and started jumping up and down and then gave Rachel a hug. Lucas got up, and gave a hug to his little brother.

Peyton pulled Rachel away from the boys to talk. "Okay so tell me about the hot sex in Europe" Peyton finally said.

Rachel laughed. "We didn't have sex Peyton"

Peyton looked confused. "You and Nathan, you guys didn't have sex? What did you decide to be boyfriend and girlfriend on the plane or something." Peyton asked, "actually you guys would have probably done it in the bathroom." Peyton kidded.

Rachel laughed and said. "No, we didn't have sex, I want to wait Peyton, and I want to wait until I'm in love, at least with Nathan. I want this relationship to be deep, and real, and for love."

"Rachel Gattina?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah…" Nathan said with a smile on his face. "She's great Luke."

"Yeah, I've seen her naked too, she's REALLY great." Lucas replied.

Nathan laughed. "Actually I wouldn't know." Nathan replied. "but I think I'm falling in love with her."


	11. Chapter 11

5 days later, Brooke was released from the hospital. Chase wheeled Brooke out of the hospital that morning, lifted her into the car, and then closed the door. He walked to the driver's side and got in. He gave Brooke a kiss on the forehead. Brooke exhaled. "I can't believe this is happening Chase" Brooke said. "I can't walk"

Chase looked at Brooke with a worried look on his face, "Everything is going to be okay."

Brooke nodded. And Chase backed up, and they headed for their apartment.

"Guys, hurry up!!" Peyton shrieked.

"They're going to be here soon" Rachel said putting up the "Welcome Home" banner.

Lucas and Nathan had just gotten back from the store; they brought the cake onto the counter. Rachel told Nathan to help her down. He reached out his hand to grab Rachel's and helped her down. Rachel then, shoved the scotch tape in Nathan's hands, and told him to finish hanging the banner. Nathan laughed, but Rachel wasn't laughing, she had a very serious look on her face. Nathan got up onto the chair, and starting hanging the banner. Rachel turned to Lucas and Peyton who were kissing, and smiled.

Chris and Haley were in the recording studio. "Did you hear what happened with Brooke?" Chris asked her.

"No?" Haley asked. "What happened?"

"She's paralyzed" Chris said.

Haley got up, and screamed "WHAT!"

"How didn't you hear about it? Chris asked, "It was in the paper."

Haley started to freak out. Chris tried to calm her down. Haley ran out the door, and Chris followed her.

Chase parked the car in the driveway.

"My chariot awaits" Brooke says rolling her eyes.

"Come on Brooke, you never know, your legs could be back to normal in a month" Chase said.

Chase got out of the car and got the wheelchair out of the trunk, and went to pick up Brooke, and put her in the chair.

"It's such a different view from down here" Brooke laughed. Chase smiled, and pushed her into the apartment.

"SURPRISE!" Lucas, Peyton, Rachel and Nathan screamed.

Brooke almost a heart attack, "Oh my God," she said, "You guys did all this for me?"

"Of course we did" Peyton said with a smile.

"Thank you!" Brooke said as she tried to get up but couldn't. "I'm such an idiot"

Rachel walked over to her, "You're not an idiot"

Brooke smiled. And the 6 of them partied all night long.

Brooke got a call from Haley late that night, when everyone left.

"Hello?" Brooke said.

"Brooke!" Haley said like she was about to cry, "Are you okay?"

"Haley! Oh My God!" Brooke said, "I'm fine, really."

"I just heard, I'm so sorry." Haley said.

Brooke smiled. "It's fine, really."

"Brooke, I would come down if I didn't have such a busy schedule. I mean were almost done recording our 3 song, and it's…"

"It's fine, really." Brooke said interrupting her.

"I have to go." Haley said in a rush. "I'll talk to you later okay?"

"Yeah bye" Brooke said.

Brooke closed the phone, and put it away. Chase saw Brooke feeling down.

"What's the matter?" Chase asked her.

"That was Haley." Brooke said, "I'm loosing connection with her Chase, and I don't like it."

"Yeah, but don't you think it would be weird with Rachel and Nathan?" he asked.

"I understand, but Haley's my friend too." Brooke said. "I just thought after her spilt with Nathan, we would keep in touch, but we haven't.

The next day, Rachel and Nathan came over to take Brooke to work. They walked down the streets of New York. Nathan and Rachel were amazed. When they arrived to Brooke's work. Chantal, a fashion designer ran over to Brooke and gave her a hug. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Glad to be back at work." Brooke said, "Chantal, this is Rachel and Nathan, they came to visit me from Europe"

"Wow. Very pleased to meet you" she said.

Then she turned to look at Rachel and Nathan and had a weird look on her face, and then smiled. Both Nathan and Rachel were getting scared. Brooke laughed. "She has that effect on people" Brooke whispered

"I'm sorry" she said, "But have you two ever considered modeling as a profession?"

Rachel and Nathan looked at each other weird. "No?" they both replied.

"It just so happens that we have a spot open in our line up" Chantal said. "and I want you to fill it."

"Rachel, will be a great model" Nathan said.

"Oh, boy, I want you too" Chantal said.

Nathan with a confused expression on his face. "I don't know…"

"We'll think about it" Rachel jumped in and said.

Chantal pushes Brooke to where her office is.

"What do you think babe?" Nathan said.

"I think we should do it Nathan," Rachel said, "Modeling is great money, and plus Brooke's here, and I want to be close to her because of the accident."

"You really want to model?" Nathan laughed.

"If it's with you," Rachel leaned in for a kiss, "of course" and kissed Nathan.


	12. Chapter 12

It had been a great month and a half. Nathan and Rachel were a happy couple modeling. Peyton and Lucas were happy parents to be. And Brooke was finally getting used to her wheelchair, with Chase right beside her every step of the way.

Nathan and Rachel were at the studio, modeling Brooke's new bathing suit line.

"Guys, I'm not feeling it, it's a bathing suit ad, you have to look vibrant and sexual" said Jeff, the photographer.

"More sexual?" Rachel asked with a smile.

"Yes, when people look at the ad we want them to feel sexual if they buy it, you know?" He said, "These bathing suits are for those people that don't have anyone special in their life. So they see the ad, and want the swimsuit. It's that simple." Jeff replied.

Nathan rolled his eyes. "Simple…"

Rachel hit him, and said, "Okay, if we have to make this sexual, we will."

Nathan had a smile on his face, "What did you have in mind?"

Rachel grabbed her and he kissed her. Then Nathan held Rachel close, and did the Titanic pose. He also dipped her. Then Rachel put her leg onto Nathan, and put her finger to his lips. Rachel also put her hand on his six pack.

"That was amazing" Jeff said after the photo shoot, "You two are going to be BIG in New York City."

* * *

Brooke and Chase were in their apartment, Chase was making diner, and Brooke was reading an article that was written about her.

"Chase, I'm a huge hit!" Brooke said putting down the article.

"Oh really?" Chase asked Brooke, and came to sit next her on the couch.

"Yes really" Brooke said, and then kissed Chase.

"I know you would." Chase said, "You are going to do great things Brooke."

Brooke kissed him again. "Thank you"

Chase got up from the couch, "Brooke I need to run to the store to pick up something for the lasagna. I'll be right back. 5 minutes."

Brooke nodded her head. "While you're out, I'll try something new."

* * *

Lucas and Peyton were walking along the river, when they arrived at a tiny waterfall.

"Wow, it's beautiful" Peyton said.

"Not as beautiful as you are" Lucas said into her green eyes.

Peyton smiled and kissed him.

"I want ice cream" Peyton said.

There was an ice cream truck passing by, Lucas ran over to the truck, and said, "One banana spilt please"

Peyton smiled at Lucas and said "To share". The ice cream man gave Lucas the banana split and the two of them sat on a bench looking out to the waterfall. Lucas took one of the two spoons and gave it to Peyton. Peyton got some ice cream on the spoon but it ended up on her nose instead of in her mouth. Lucas pointed and started to laugh at her. Peyton smiled, and put ice cream on Lucas's nose. Lucas laughed and held her tight. Peyton took the ice cream off her nose, and Lucas did the same. Lucas got up from the bench, and started to pace.

"Lucas, what's wrong?" Peyton asked.

"Peyton, I've been waiting a long time to do this." Lucas said. "It just didn't seem like the right time."

Peyton had a confused look on her face, "What do you mean?" she asked.

Lucas reached for something in his pocket. He took out a square-type box, and sat next to Peyton.

"All my life, I loved you. Before we ever talked, I liked you. I knew you were the one for me. No one even comes close Peyt. If soul mates actually existed, you would be my soul mate. We've come a long way since our first year in high school. We've been through horrible times, and with different people. But we still ended up together Peyton, and I think that means something. Brooke always says, True love finds it's way back. Well that statement has proven itself in our relationship. What I'm trying to say is, I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you." Lucas exhaled, "Will you marry me?" and he opened the box, and a stunning diamond ring stunned Peyton.

* * *

"Come on Brooke, you can do it" she told herself. Brooke used her arms to full herself upward. "Baby steps" she said. She got out of the chair, and put one foot forward. Brooke smiled, and then put another. Chase came in the apartment, he looked at Brooke and said "Brooke what are you doing?"

"I can do it" Brooke said.

Brooke started putting her foot in front of the other, and made it to the door, when all of a sudden she collapsed in Chase's arms.

"Brooke! Brooke! Wake up!" Chase said holding her tight.


	13. Chapter 13

It was very silent for about a minute. Peyton stepped back from Lucas. Lucas had a confused look on his face. He got up from one knee. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Peyton turned around so she wouldn't face him. Lucas walked over to Peyton and started rubbing her back. "I know it's a big step, Peyton. But I love you" he told her.

Peyton faced him and said, "Lucas, we're not ready to get married."

"I think we are, as long as we love each other, we can make it work Peyt." Lucas said, "And I know you love me"

"I don't know Lucas…"

Chase held Brooke close to him, lifted her up, and put her on the couch. Once she was stable, he ran to the phone, he picked it up and started dialing the number for the hospital.

Brooke started to move. Chase saw Brooke opening her eyes, and closed the phone. He ran over to her, and sat on the couch next to her. "You're crazy, you know that?" Chase said and smiled.

"Chase, I know I can do it." Brooke told him in all confidence

"If you really want to try and walk again, we'll do it together okay?" Chase said rubbing her hands.

Brooke nodded. "I was walking" she said and smiled.

"I knew you would walk again Brooke, we just had to be patient" Chase said, and bent over to kiss Brooke's forehead.

"I rather a kiss on the lips." Brooke said biting her lip. Chase smiled and gave a kiss.

Chase got up from the couch, stood in front of Brooke, and held out his hands.

"What are you doing?" Brooke asked.

"Helping you get your old life back." Chase said.

Brooke smiled, and held his hands.

"Come on, nice and easy." Chase said.

Brooke got up, and put one foot in front of the other, and was walking.

"I'm walking" Brooke said excited.

Chase lifted her up, and spun her around.

Nathan and Rachel were walking hand in hand down around the time square area. Nathan pointed to a huge billboard. Rachel looked over, and shrieked when she saw her and Nathan's picture on the billboard.

"Oh my God!" Rachel screamed. "Nathan! That's us!"

"Dam, we make a hot couple!" Nathan said and kissed her hand.

"I think we should celebrate!" Rachel said.

"Alright…anything you had in mind?" Nathan said.

Rachel stared at him. "Yeah…a have an idea." Rachel said and grabbed his hand, and headed him towards the hotel.

Once Nathan and Rachel got to the hotel, Nathan rushed her up against the door, and kissed her.

"Come on. Go get the thing on, so we can get it on" Rachel said.

Nathan laughed and headed for the bathroom.

Rachel looked threw her luggage. "Lingerie? Lingerie? Crap. Where is it?" Rachel said, "aha.! Found you!" and she ran to the other bathroom.

Nathan came out from the bathroom and hoped into bed. The bathroom door opened, and Rachel walked out with kinky black lingerie and a black see threw robe on.

"Come to daddy" Nathan said.

Rachel stopped walking and gave a weird look to Nathan. "Nathan, that was a huge turn off."

Nathan laughed embarrassed. "Sorry, it worked with Haley…"

Rachel couldn't stop laughing.

"If it helps, remember the billboard, we're on it." Nathan said seductively.

Rachel was getting turned back on. "Shut up and make love to me." She said, and got into bed.

Nathan started kissing her neck. "Wait…" Nathan said.

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked.

"I just realized I've never seen you naked before"

Rachel smiled. "On the count of three?" she said.

"One" Nathan said

"Two" Rachel said

"Three" they said together.

They lifted the covers, looked, and put the covers together with weird expressions on their faced. They both laughed.

"Wow." They both said.


	14. Chapter 14

Brooke and Chase went to the hospital to tell Doctor Gibson about the big news. He was shocked that Brooke had made such a recovery in so little time.

"So this is good right?" Chase asked.

"It's very good," the doctor said, "Brooke, I need to take a few tests though."

Brooke nodded, turned to Chase and gave him a hug. "I'll be here when you get out" Chase said.

"Promise?" Brooke said.

"There's no place I rather be" Chase replied, and gave her a kiss on the forehead, "Be strong"

Brooke followed the doctor into the examination room. She waved to Chase as she went in the room.

"Peyton, what do you mean you don't know?" Lucas asked, "You don't know if you love me?"

"No, it's not that. I do love you," Peyton said.

"Okay, so then let's get married." Lucas replied.

"I don't know if I'm ready to get married Lucas, it's a huge step." Peyton said.

"But we are ready, I know it. You are going to be a great mother to out child, and you are going to be a great, loving wife. I just know it." Lucas told her. "I'm going to ask you one more time." Lucas held her hand got on one knee, looked into her beautiful green eyes, and asked "Peyton, make me the happiest man in the world, will you marry me?"

Peyton exhaled. "Yes!" she said with a huge smile on her face.

"Yes?" Lucas said with a grin

"YES!" she screamed.

Lucas got up and spun her around.

"Hold on" he said, "I have to do this right."

He got back down on one knee, and slid the ring on her finger.

Peyton kneeled, and kissed Lucas.

Nathan and Rachel lay in bed.

"Wow, that was amazing" Nathan said.

Rachel winked, and bit her lip. "I've had better" Rachel joked.

Nathan frowned. "Fine, be that way." He said as he leaned in for a kiss.

"You better get some rest" Rachel said.

"Why's that?" Nathan asked.

"Because we're doing it again tonight" Rachel said as she bit her lip.

Nathan smiled. "I'm totally cool with that."

Peyton received a text message from Chase telling her about Brooke walking again, about the tests, and that she was at the hospital. Peyton closed her phone and told Lucas. Lucas asked her if she wanted to go to the hospital.

"Yeah. I think I should" Peyton said.

"Well I'm coming with you." Lucas said.

Both of them headed for the car. As they got in Peyton said, "Lucas, I want to get married as soon as possible."

"You don't want a long engagement?" Lucas said.

"Lucas, what's happening in about 3 months?" Peyton asked him.

"I don't know?" Lucas said.

"The baby is going to get bigger, and I don't want to be huge in our wedding pictures."

"Right" Lucas said, "So then when do you want to have the wedding?"

"As soon as possible," Peyton said.

Rachel was worried about the whole money issue, since she ran off to Europe with Nathan, her parents had cut off contact, not like they really spoke before, but still. Rachel was scared to death about how they would pay for rent or even healthcare if one of them got sick. Nathan knew she was upset about it; they had talked about it last night during their walk. Rachel and Nathan were eating breakfast, when all of a sudden Rachel got up and asked Nathan if she could use his computer.

"Are you looking for another job? Because Rachel, I really think this modeling job is going to be good for us. It is amazing hours and amazing pay. I really don't think we're going to need another job." Nathan said.

"Being serious here." Rachel laughed, "I love our modeling job, the pay is amazing, and I heard Jeff talking and he said something about a promotion."

"So why do you need the computer?" Nathan asked.

"Ah, I have to check my facebook" Rachel laughed, "my new boyfriend might have tagged me."

"Oh, a new boyfriend eh?" Nathan kissed her neck.

"What new boyfriend" Rachel said with a smile on her face, "I have one boyfriend, and he's enough for me to handle.

Nathan smiled and said, "Alright check your facebook, I'm going to go get changed."

Rachel opened the computer, opened an Internet browser, and a pornographic site popped out. Then came a video. Nathan heard sexual noises coming from the bedroom and ran to see what was happening. He realised what Rachel had found, and ran to her side, and closed the laptop. A memory popped into his head, it was a memory when Haley found the same pornographic sites on his computer.

"Hey!" Rachel shouted, "I was watching that!"

Nathan had a confused look on his face, "You watch prono?"

"Duh! How else do you think I'm so good in bed!" Rachel laughed, "Why did you turn it off?"

"It triggered a memory Rachel, and I was scared you would react the same way." Nathan said.

"Why, what happened?" Rachel said.

"Well, when Haley and I were together. She stumbled upon this site, and got mad at me." he said.

"For looking at pornography?" Rachel said, "Every guy does that! It's kind of expected."

"Anyway…I just didn't want to walk out like she did." Nathan said.

"I'm not going anywhere." Rachel said and kissed him.

Chase was waiting in the waiting room, when Peyton and Lucas came running.

Peyton had a worried look on her face. Chase gave her a hug. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm just a little scared for Brooke." Peyton said.

"Don't be, Brooke walking again, isn't a bad thing." Chase said.

"I know, I know. But I mean what if something happens to her?" Peyton said.

"What do you mean?" Chase said.

"I don't know, I just have a bad feeling." She said.

The doctor came out with Brooke next to him. He apologized for taking so long. He told them that he needed to talk to Chase and Brooke alone.

"It's fine" Lucas said, "You guys go talk to the doctor"

"We'll be here, waiting." Peyton said.

Brooke, Chase and the doctor walked into his office. They pulled up seats, and listened to the doctor.

"Brooke, your legs are working, and you don't need a wheelchair anymore." The doctor said with a grin.

"That's good news, so why couldn't you tell me that in front of my friends?" Brooke asked.

"Because I have unfortunately some bad news." The doctor said.

"Hey, why did you have to scare Chase like that Peyton?" Lucas asked.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"After you said you had a bad feeling. Didn't you see his face. He was really scared." Lucas told her.

"Lucas, I do have a bad feeling about this, I mean, why would the doctor tell Chase and Brooke to go to his office, if it was good news. You know? It doesn't make any sense." Peyton said.

Chase held Brooke's hand. "What is it Doctor?" Brooke scarcely asked.

"The accident…" he said, "caused something in your eggs to malfunction and you cannot have any children."

Brooke got up from the table. "What!" she screamed.

The doctor's beeper went off. "I'm sorry, I have to take this." He said, and got up and left his office.

Brooke started to cry. Chase held her tight.

"I…I…I…"Brooke said, "I can't have any children"

Brooke cried even harder.


	15. Chapter 15

Nathan and Rachel went to go get coffee before going to work, on their way there; they talked about what had happened in the morning.

"Nathan, I'm not going anywhere okay?" Rachel said, "I want you to know that."

"Rachel, I do know that" Nathan said looking into her eyes.

"I'm not Haley, and I'm not going to hurt you the way she did." Rachel told him, "I mean, you brought Haley up today, do you still have feelings for her?"

Nathan didn't answer her. Rachel let go of Nathan's hand.

"You still have feelings for Haley!" Rachel screamed.

"Rachel, she's a part of my past, she changed me, she was my first love." Nathan said.

"Great, then go find your first love and leave me alone!" Rachel yelled, and ran away.

Nathan runs after her.

Chase walked a crying Brooke out of the doctor's office. Peyton ran to Brooke's side, and gave her a hug.

"What's wrong!" Peyton asked.

"I….I…I…." Brooke said stuttering.

"You what?" Peyton asked.

"I can't have any children…" Brooke said crying.

"Oh God." Peyton said, holding her tight.

"I'm never going to have a family…never going to look into my baby's eyes." Brooke said.

Lucas went to join the Peyton/Brooke hug. "I'm so sorry Brooke," he said, "Peyton; I think we should give Chase and Brooke some space."

"Yeah." Peyton said and gave Brooke another hug, "We'll be in the cafeteria."

Peyton and Lucas walked over to the cafeteria; Peyton looked back at Brooke and started to cry. Lucas put his arm around her, and headed her back in the direction of the cafeteria.

Chase and Brooke walked over to the waiting room, and sat down. Brooke exhaled, and looked at Chase, "You don't deserve this." She said.

"What?" Chase said.

"I mean, I don't deserve you, you deserve a family, someone that can give you children." Brooke said as she got up, "I'm sorry, I can't do this to you"

Chase got up quickly and grabbed her hand, "Brooke, you're not going anywhere, I love you, and you love me, and that's all that matters." Chase said.

"No, you want a family Chase, and I can't give you that." Brooke said.

"I don't need a family if I've got you." Chase told her, "You're my family Brooke"

Brooke started to cry again, "You always told me that you wanted a family Chase, and now, I can't give it to you, and I don't want to see you unhappy." Brooke said.

"Me? What about you? You're the one unhappy. Do I look unhappy to you? Yeah, we can't have biological children together, but we can adopt, we can ask the doctor what we can do." Chase said, "I'm not going anywhere."

"I told you something bad was going to happen Lucas!" Peyton said to her fiancé

"Yeah…how did you know that?" Lucas asked.

"She's my best friend Luke, you and Haley probably have the same connection right?" Peyton asked.

"I haven't talked to Haley since graduation."

Lucas's cell phone went off, he looked at the name and number.

"Who is it?" Peyton asked.

"It's Haley…" Lucas replied.

"Well, answer it." Peyton said.

Peyton got up to get some food, to give Lucas and Haley some privacy. Lucas opened the phone.

"Hales?" he said.

"Luke!" Haley screamed, "How's Brooke?"

"She's not so good, she just found out that she couldn't have any children." Lucas told her.

"What?" Haley screamed.

"Yeah, it's horrible." Lucas replied.

"I know what she's going through." Haley said.

"Are you going to come down and see her?" Lucas asked, "We miss you Haley"

"I don't know Luke, I'm so busy here." Haley said.

"That's great Haley, you're not even going to come see my get married." Lucas said.

"What!" Haley shrieked on the phone.

"I'm getting married to Peyton" Lucas said.

"When?" she asked.

"Don't know, I just proposed to her tonight." Lucas replied.

"Wow, I'm so happy for you guys." Haley said.

"Haley…you have to come see Brooke, it's like you're not even part of the group anymore." Lucas said.

"That's not my fault…" Haley said.

"Yeah, it kind of is" Lucas said.

"No, it's Nathan's fault." Haley replied.

"Okay, how is it Nathan's fault that you don't even call us anymore?" Lucas said.

"If Nathan wasn't there with you, I would have come, and called." Haley said.

"Hales, that's a bunch of crap, and you know it, maybe you're scared to come" Lucas said.

"Why would I be scared?" Haley asked.

"You're scared because you think Nathan is still madly in love with you, and will follow you around like a little puppy." Lucas said, "Well, that's not going to happen, he's moved on"

"He has?" Haley asked, "To who?"

"Does that really matter Hales?" Lucas asked, "You want him back don't you?"

"I don't know, Lucas." Haley said.

"Well stop being un-fair to him and talk to him Hales!" Lucas said, "Before he moves on for good."

Rachel was running threw the people of New York, "Excuse me," she said crying and continued running.

"Rachel wait!" Nathan screamed at the tops of his lungs, and continued running after her.

"Taxi!" Rachel screamed. A taxi pulled up, and Rachel got in. Nathan saw Rachel getting into the taxi, "Oh, hell no!" Nathan yelled, and sprinted. The cab driver asked where Rachel wanted to go. Rachel got a text message from Chase telling her about Brooke.

"The Hospital" Rachel said.

Nathan ran behind the cab. He wasn't letting her get away, not this time. "Rachel!" he screamed. It was no use, the cab was a lot faster then he was. He saw an auto shop, and asked to borrow the motorcycle. He got on, and chased the cab. He finally caught up to the cab, and started banging on the window "Rachel!" he screamed.

"What are you doing?" Rachel said as she lowered her window, "Are you trying to get yourself killed!"

"If that's what it takes, yeah!" Nathan replied.

Rachel told the cab driver to pull over. He did, and Rachel got out of the cab.

"What the hell was that?" Rachel screamed.

"A goose chase?" Nathan joked.

"great…you're making jokes. Well I don't find it funny Nathan." Rachel said, "You're still in love with Haley."

"No, I'm not." Nathan said.

"You're a liar." Rachel said.

"Rachel, come on" Nathan said grabbing her hand.

"No, leave me alone…" Rachel said pulling her arm away.

"I'm sorry" he said.

"I don't need your I'm sorry's Nathan. I need you." Rachel said.

"Well I'm here." Nathan said.

"No, no you're not, not when you have someone else in your heart" Rachel said.

"Rach, come on, isn't your first love still have a small part of your heart?" Nathan asked.

"No," Rachel said, "Because I never experienced love, I've never had a first love." Rachel said and started to cry.

"Rachel, listen to me okay? I've never felt this way about anyone before." Nathan said.

"What about Haley? You're soul mate?" Rachel asked.

"If Haley was my soul mate, then we would still be together." He said, "Anyway, getting back on subject, I wanted to make everything perfect, no mistakes, because I've been feeling this way for a few weeks, and I can't hold it in any longer."

"Hold in what?" Rachel asked.

"My feelings for you Rach." Nathan said. "I love you."

"You love me?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah, I fell in love with Rachel." Nathan replied.

Rachel smiled, wrapped her arms around his neck, and whispered, "I love you too."

Nathan smiled, and a very passionate kiss was shared.

Nathan and Rachel got on the motorcycle, and rushed to the hospital.

Brooke and Chase went to the cafeteria and sat down with Peyton and Lucas. Brooke and Peyton hugged.

"Are you feeling a little better?" Peyton asked.

"A little." Brooke nodded.

"Good" Peyton said as she rubbed Brooke's arms.

Brooke and Peyton held hands, and Brooke felt the engagement ring, she stopped, picked up Peyton and shrieked. Peyton and Brooke started jumping up and down. Brooke gave Peyton a jumpy hug.

"Congratulations!" she screamed.

Lucas realized what Brooke had found, and got up, and put his arm around Peyton. Chase looked confused. "Am I missing something here?" he asked.

"We're engaged!" Lucas said.

Chase smiled, "Congratulations man!" he said, and gave Lucas a hug.

"Thanks." Lucas replied.

Nathan and Rachel came running in. They couldn't find Brooke, Chase, Peyton and Lucas. They asked the doctor where they were. And he told them he thought they were in the cafeteria. Rachel and Nathan smiled, and ran to the cafeteria together hand in hand. Rachel saw Brooke, and ran over to her. Brooke got up, and saw Rachel happy but sad at the same time. Brooke had a confused look on her face.

"I'll tell you later" Rachel said.

Rachel gave Brooke a hug. And they both started to cry together.

"It's okay. I have to be strong," Brooke said.

"I'm so proud of you," Rachel said, "I mean, something horrible happens to you, and you keep positive attitude."

"It's because of this guy," Brooke said looking at Chase.

Nathan and Rachel sat down, and engaged in conversation with Peyton, Brooke, Chase and Lucas.

A few hours later, they were about to leave when a familiar voice said "Hey guys"

Everyone turned around. The ex-wife, the tutor-wife, the best friend, the one who left to go on tour, the nerd, the rock star, whatever you wanted to call her, she was there.

"Haley!" everyone screamed.

Nathan looked over to Rachel who was looking at him with hurt in her eyes. He nodded, and knew what he had to do.

"Haley, it's great to see you," Nathan said getting up, and giving her a hug.

Rachel looked away.

"It's great to see you too Nathan," Haley said. "You look great."

"Thanks, so do you." Nathan said.

Then he walked over to Rachel, faced Haley, and said with a smile on his face, "Haley, Rachel and I are dating."

Haley looked confused. Rachel? Rachel Gattina, She thought. What about Always and Forever.

Haley realized she hadn't said anything and stuttered "Con…Congratulations…"

The gang walked out of the hospital, and headed to Brooke and Chase's apartment. Haley walked behind Rachel and Nathan. Nathan was whispering stuff in Rachel's ear and she was laughing. Haley got disgusted. Peyton and Brooke were talking about how uncomfortable Haley had to be, and told Haley to come to the front with them so she didn't have to watch Rachel and Nathan make out or whatever. Once they arrived at the apartment, Chase told the guys that he had bought 3 Knicks tickets for the guys and they both got excited and got ready to go. Chase kissed Brooke and told her everything was going to be fine. Lucas rubbed Peyton's belly and then kissed her. Nathan was headed out the door, when Rachel ran to him, and jumped into his arms. Nathan gave her a kiss, and put her down, and dip her, and gave her another kiss. Rachel licked her lips, and the boys left.

"Girls, we're so having a sleepover tonight!" Peyton said with her arms in the air.

"I'm already ahead of you." Rachel said, and put up the music.

Brooke, Peyton and Rachel all headed for Brooke's room. Haley didn't know where to go so she sat on the couch. The girls came back instantly with make-up, nail polish, facial masks and the whole nine yards.

"Anyone thirsty?" Rachel asked.

"I am," Haley said, "Can I have a glass of water?"

Brooke and Peyton laughed. "What are we 10?" Brooke asked.

Haley laughed. Rachel took out the beers.

"Oh, no. No beer for me." Haley said.

"What, you don't drink?" Peyton said.

"No…I don't" Haley replied.

"Oh…"Brooke replied, "Rachel, get her some water."

"Crap," Peyton said.

"What is it?" Rachel yelled from the kitchen.

"I can't have beer tonight girls…" Peyton said.

"Ah, why's that?" Brooke asked.

"Because I'm pregnant" Peyton said. "Stupid baby." Peyton laughed.

"That's why I'm glad I can't get pregnant" Brooke joked.

Rachel and Brooke opened their beet bottles, cheered each other and gulped the beer.

"AH!" Brooke and Rachel said together

"I'm so jealous right now." Peyton said.

"So Haley…what's going on with you?" Rachel asked.

"I'm recording music with Chris…" Haley replied.

"Wow!" Peyton said.

"Yeah, he's pretty hot" Rachel said biting her lip.

"Okay missy, out with the details" Brooke told Rachel

"What details" Rachel asked.

"Come on, you and Nathan had sex." Peyton said.

Haley was feeling a little uncomfortable.

"What?" Rachel said.

"You were so excited when you came to the hospital Rachel." Brooke said.

"Well, we did have sex, but that wasn't what I was happy about."

"AHA! You did have sex!" Peyton said.

"So?"

"How good was it?" Haley asked trying to get into the conversation.

"Meh…I've had better."

Peyton and Brooke couldn't stop laughing. Haley looked confused.

"Cheers to that" Brooke said, and the 2 beer bottles hit.

"Wait…Nathan's bad in bad?" Haley asked.

"Well…" Brooke said.

"Yeah…" Peyton answered for her.

"Well, he wasn't COMPLETELY mad. I mean, the preparation before the sex was amazing." Rachel said.

"Did he say come to daddy?" Haley asked.

Brooke and Peyton looked at Haley with a weird look.

"Yeah… it was really weird."

"You didn't like that?" Haley asked in shock.

"No…." Rachel replied.

"Right…" Haley said trying to be cool.

"He said he loved me…" Rachel said with a smile.

"What?" Peyton said.

"Oh my GOD!" Brooke shrieked, "Rachel, that's awesome!"

"I know right?" Rachel said with a smile.

"He said he loved you?" Haley said.

"Yeah. I know, I couldn't believe it myself." Rachel said.

"I don't believe you" Haley said.

"Haley?" Brooke said.

"No…I think you're making it up." Haley said.

"Why would I make that up?" Rachel said.

"Because you need attention." Haley told her.

"True….but I'm not making it up" Rachel said.

"I believe you Rach" Peyton said.

"Husband stealer…" Haley muttered.

"What did you say?" Rachel asked.

"Oh…nothing." Haley said.

"No…you said husband stealer Haley. I heard you" Brooke said.

"Husband stealer?" Rachel laughed. "Ha!"

"You are a husband stealer Rachel!" Haley said.

"No, I'm not! Come to reality Haley, he's not your husband anymore." Rachel said, "and it's not even like he left you. You are the one that broke his heart."

"What about that musician you were dating?" Haley asked.

"Noah?" Rachel asked. "Noah dumped me"

"Smart boy…" Haley said

"HALEY!" Peyton and Brooke screamed.

"Whatever this little relationship between you and Nathan is, it's not going to last. Everyone knows he's my soul mate, and we will end up together." Haley said.

"Do you hear yourself? Seriously?" Rachel said, "You're soul mate? That's complete bull!"

"Ask Nathan…I bet he still has a place in his heart for me." Haley said. "He'll realize that place in his heart is better for me then it is you, and he'll dump your sorry ass, cause well, everyone does." Haley said.

Rachel looked at her, got up, and ran to the bathroom. Brooke and Peyton followed her.

"Why are you going after Rachel?" Haley said.

"Because she's our friend!" Peyton said.

"Brooke, Peyton, come on. We all know, that it's Brooke, Haley and Peyton until the end, not this fake Brooke, Peyton and Rachel friendship." Haley said.

"Please…the Brooke Haley Peyton friendship was gone a long time ago, when you didn't keep in touch." Peyton said.

"Yeah…Rachel was here for me when I needed her, and where were you? Apparently off with Chris Keller singing musicals." Brooke said.

Brooke and Peyton went to the bathroom door and knocked. They asked Rachel if she was okay. Rachel didn't answer. They knocked on the door again.

The boys came in, and saw Brooke and Peyton at the bathroom door and Haley on top on a pillow on the floor. Haley got up when she saw Nathan and gave him a hug

"What's going on?" Chase asked as he walked towards Brooke.

"What's going on? Rachel vs. Haley. That's what's going on." Brooke said.

"I knew this would happen" Peyton said.

Nathan pushed Haley aside and said "Where's Rachel?"

Peyton and Brooke both pointed to the bathroom. Nathan walked over to the bathroom, and knocked on the door.

"Rach? It's me. Open up." Nathan said.

Rachel opened the door, she had tears in the eyes. Haley rolled her eyes, and got up, and pushed Nathan to a room, and locked the door.

"What are you doing?" Nathan asked her.

"Nathan, I have to tell you something." Haley said.

"I don't care, Rachel is crying, let me out." Nathan said as he got out of the room, and went to comfort Rachel. Nathan held Rachel in his arms. "What happened?" he demanded to know.

"Ask her…" Rachel said as she pointed to Haley.


	16. Chapter 16

Nathan held Rachel close, and faced Haley. Haley stepped back, and asked Nathan if she could talk to him for a second. Nathan asked Rachel if that was okay, and she nodded. Haley walked into Brooke and Chase's room and Nathan followed.

"What's going on with you?" Nathan said as he closed the door behind him.

Haley bit her lip, and stayed quiet.

"Okay, if you're not going to talk Haley, I'm going back to Rachel, she's hurting, what did you do?" he asked.

Haley turned around, and kissed Nathan. She pulled him in, he tried to pull away. Nathan got her off him.

"What are you doing?" Nathan said.

"Kissing you." Haley said.

"Why are you kissing me Haley?" Nathan said.

"Because I love you." Haley said.

Nathan turned around and asked Haley if that was why Rachel was upset.

"Yeah, I told her that she should get out of the relationship, since you were going to brake her heart anyway."

"What!" he screamed.

"Well it's true." Haley said, "Nathan, we're soul mates, everyone knows that."

"Haley, if we're soul mates," Nathan said, "then how come I'm with Rachel?"

"Well all guys get horny" Haley said, "You just have to brake it off with Rachel, so we can be together again."

"No…"Nathan said.

"You're my always." Haley said.

"I WAS your always. Not anymore. You caused me a lot of pain Haley, and I'm with Rachel now." Nathan told her.

"Pft. Yeah, bang her and then we'll be together." Haley said.

"No…I'm in love with her." Nathan said.

"Love?" Haley said, "Rachel Gattina? God, I never thought I would heard those two words in the same sentence."

"Stop making jokes, I'm serious Haley," Nathan replied, "we're over." Nathan walked out of the room.

The gang had gotten Rachel out of the bathroom, and onto the couch. Nathan smiled and walked to Rachel's side.

"You want to get out of here?" Nathan asked her.

Rachel nodded. "Yeah."

Rachel gave Peyton and Brooke hugs. They told her to feel better, but that was easier said then done right?

Rachel and Nathan walked out of the apartment.

"I can't believe Haley…" Brooke said.

"Yeah I know. Me too." Peyton replied.

"What happened exactly?" Lucas asked.

"It's a long story." Peyton told him.

Haley came out of the room, and wiped her tears. Lucas went to her side and comforted her.

"I have to go," she said, "I'm recording in the morning"

"Okay, bye." The rest of the gang said.

Lucas walked Haley to her car. She asked him if she had screwed up. He told her it didn't matter, and he was looking forward to see her at his wedding. Haley hugged Lucas and got into the cab. Lucas waited until the cab was out of site, and then walked back into the apartment. Peyton had asked Brooke if she wanted to be her maid of honour, and Brooke had accepted. Peyton and Lucas left, and Peyton told her to call her the next morning so they could get together for wedding plans.

"Come on Mister, let's go to bed." Brooke said to Chase.

"alright." Chase said, and then kiss her gently.

Rachel was hyperventilating, so Nathan went into a store and got a bag and gave it to Rachel. Rachel took the bag, and breathed in and out. Once she finally caught her breath, she said, "Nathan, remember this morning you said Haley was never coming back? Well she did come back. So where does that leave us?"

Nathan took the bag away from her mouth and lips her lips passionately.

"Aww. That was sweet. But I need that bag back" she said, and took the bag back and started breathing into it again.

Nathan laughed. "Rachel, I told you this morning, and I'll tell you again. I'm not going anywhere."

"But…" Rachel said taking her face out of the bag, "Haley wasn't in the picture, and well she's back in it now."

"It doesn't change the way I feel about you." Nathan said, "I love you Rachel, and I told Haley that."

"You did?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah. I could tell she was hurt, but that's not my problem." Nathan said, "Not anymore anyway."

Rachel smiled, "I never knew what I was missing." She said to him.

"What do you mean?" Nathan said.

"This…the whole relationship, kissing, holding hands experience." Rachel replied.

"Well I'm glad I'm the one that you get to experience it with." Nathan said.

Rachel heard "Fall In Love" by Nick Lachey play from a nearby restaurant.

I don't know what it is tonight,  
Your smile,  
Your eyes.  
Yeah...

Even in the candle light,  
You shine,  
So bright.  
You are so beautiful,  
More beautiful,  
Than you've ever been.  
I catch my breath,  
And fall in love again. 

Nathan if he wanted to dance. Nathan shook his head, and told her that he didn't dance.

"Didn't you see me at the strip club night?" Nathan asked.

"This is different, it's slow dancing." Rachel replied.

"I don't know." Nathan said.

"Come on, I'll teach you." Rachel told him.

She took his hand, and they walked near the water fountain. Rachel told him to hold her hand, and he did. Rachel placed her arm on his shoulder, and then she told him to put his arm around her waist.

I can't imagine where I'd be  
Without you with me.  
I need you more everyday,  
More than words can say.

I want you in my life,  
For all my life.  
This night will never end.  
You'll take my hand,  
And I'll fall in love again.

And nothing short of a miracle  
Could have brought you here to me.  
When I'm with you,  
Heaven's all I see  
(All I see) 

"See we're not so bad." Rachel said.

"You're great, I'm horrible" Nathan replied.

Rachel laughed.

"I'm in love with you Rachel" Nathan said, and then kissed her so passionately that her foot raised.

Caught up in every touch,  
I feel the rush,  
Of this moment that we're in.  
Each time we kiss,  
I fall in love again.

I can't resist,  
I fall in love again.


	17. Chapter 17

The guys were having a guy's day today, and the girls were having a girl's day. They all met at Starbucks. Nathan and Rachel were late as usual.

"They're probably having casual sex" Brooke joked.

Nathan and Rachel walked into Starbucks. The gang laughed when they saw their hair was all messed up. Nathan and Rachel realized that they knew they did the deed, and laughed as well. Lucas asked Chase and Nathan to be in the wedding party, and asked Nathan to be the best man. Nathan accepted and hugged Lucas. They boys kissed their girlfriends, and left. Peyton looked at Rachel and Brooke and told them that Lucas had left everything up to her for the wedding, and they had to think together and plan quickly.

"Hold that thought." Brooke said reading a text message.

"Brooke, I'm serious, put that thing away" Peyton said.

Brooke read the text message and went outside of Starbucks. Both Peyton and Rachel had confused looks on their faces. Brooke walked in with 2 women, one with blond hair and the other was a brunette. Peyton screamed for joy when she saw them and went to give them hugs.

"I thought we may need some extra help" Brooke said.

"Alright how can we help?" Deb asked.

"We need to do everything, except the boys' tuxes, even with those I don't trust them" Peyton said.

"That's my son…" Karen said.

"Alright, so when is the wedding?" Rachel asked.

"In 3 weekends," Peyton said, "Lucas and I both decided last night"

"Alright, we don't have a lot of time." Deb said.

The girls talked about who was going to be in the bridal party. Peyton told them that it was going to be Brooke, as maid of honor, and then Rachel next to her. The girls smiled. Then Peyton said, that Lucas wanted Haley in the wedding party as well.

"Haley?" Rachel asked, "the one who told me off last night?"

"She's not even here Peyton, to do the bridesmaid stuff!" Brooke replied.

"I know she's not. But it's Lucas's best friend." Peyton told them.

"Still, if she's going to be in the bridal party she should be here. How is she going to get fitted for a dress?" Rachel said.

"Why isn't Haley here?" Deb asked, "Isn't Nathan here?"

"Yes, Nathan's here, but Haley's not." Peyton replied.

"You don't know they spilt up?" Brooke asked.

"They what?" Deb asked.

"Wow. You need to talk to your son more Deb" Rachel joked.

"Is he dating anyone now?" Karen asked.

Peyton and Brooke pointed at Rachel. Rachel looked up and said, "Oh yeah…me"

Karen and Deb had stunned looks on their faces. "Wow. I'm shocked, but so happy" Deb replied.

"Yeah, that's most people's reaction." Rachel said.

"Okay! Back to my wedding!" Peyton screamed.

"We are so throwing you a bachelor party!" Nathan screamed.

"A what?" Lucas asked.

"You know, a night you won't ever forget." Chase replied.

"No, no … come on." Lucas said, "Peyton's going to kill me."

"And you don't think Rachel and Brooke aren't going to throw a bridal shower for Peyton?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah, but that's where we get stuff for the apartment." Lucas replied.

Nathan and Chase laughed. "Please…its Rachel and Brooke, they're going to have a stripper." Nathan said.

"Yeah…that's true" Chase said.

"Okay…but no exotic dancers." Lucas replied.

Nathan and Chase laughed… "Of course."

The girls walked to the mall, and headed to all the bridal shops. Deb and Karen went with Peyton to go look for bridal gowns, and Brooke and Rachel went to go look for bridesmaid's dresses. Karen picked out some for Peyton, as did Deb. They kept giving Peyton the dresses. Brooke and Rachel looked threw the racks. There were dresses in all shapes and sizes, some with ruffles, some with weird colors.

"Peyton!" Brooke screamed, "what color dress do you want us to wear?"

"Pick a dress and then we'll pick a color from the colors it comes in." Peyton shouted back.

Brooke and Rachel spotted the same one, and went to grab it. They realized that they had both picked the same dress, and Brooke let go of it. Rachel brought the dress downstairs where the bridal section was, and Brooke followed her. Peyton was trying on a gorgeous white gown. It was a tube dress, very simple but very elegant. Karen almost started to cry.

"Peyton, you look beautiful." Brooke said.

"Absolutely gorgeous" Rachel told her, "Lucas is going to flip!"

"I think this is the one girls" Peyton said.

Brooke and Rachel went to hug Peyton.

"Watch the dress" she joked.

Peyton got fitted, and they walked upstairs, for Brooke and Rachel to try on the dress. Brooke was first up; she came out of the changing room, and spun around. The girls were in aw. Brooke got fitted, and then Rachel took the dress and got changed, she got out of the changing room, and looked at herself in the mirror. "I look fat" Rachel said.

The rest of the girls got up, and screamed "No you don't!"

Rachel turned around and said, "Yeah I know, I look hot."

The girls laughed, and Rachel got fitted. "You're both a size 8" said the lady who was measuring Rachel.

"Ew. I don't have that big of an ass… Do I?" Rachel asked, "Who am I kidding, of course I do"

Brooke smiled. And the girls went to the counter and asked a lady what colors the dress came in. She checked the book, and told them it came in pink, purple, dark blue, mint green or burgundy.

"Burgundy!" Brooke and Rachel screamed.

"Burgundy it is." Peyton said.

Peyton went to go pay for the dresses, but Karen stopped her, and told her, it was one of the present from her new mama. Peyton insisted, but accepted it.

"What about Lily?" Peyton asked, "We want her to be our flower girl"

"Don't worry about Lily" Karen said, "Lucas called me last night, and told me."

"Okay so you're going to get her a dress in Tree Hill?" Peyton asked.

"Yeah…is that okay?" Karen asked, "I would have brought her, but I wanted her and her new daddy to get to know each other a little better."

"Who's this new daddy?" Brooke asked.

"Andy…" Karen replied.

Brooke and Peyton started jumping up and down.

"Girls, let's focus" Deb said.

Karen went to pay for the dresses, and Brooke stopped her. "What about Haley?" she asked.

"Call her?" Rachel asked.

Brooke took out her phone and called Haley. Haley picked up, and Brooke asked her what dress size she was. Haley said she didn't know. Brooke rolled her eyes, and Haley said she had to go, and hung up the phone.

"Get her a size 8" Brooke said.

Lucas, Chase and Nathan headed to get their tuxes. "What are you doing for music?" Chase asked.

"I don't know. I left it all to Peyton, except for the tuxes." Lucas replied.

"Well I heard of this really good band, I don't remember what it's called, but it hasn't gone Hollywood yet. I have a number, if you want."

"Chase, DJ's are better no?" Nathan asked.

"Well do you know any DJ's?" Chase asked.

"Yeah…I have someone in mind." Nathan replied and got out his phone. Nathan dialed a number, and put the phone to his ear. "Hey Mouth." He said. Mouth agreed to come to New York the following week.

"Done" Nathan said as he closed his phone.

"Who's the band you were talking about Chase?" Lucas asked.

"I don't remember the name but I do know that the lead singer's name is Jake." Chase said.

"Jake?" Lucas asked.

"No, it can't be Jake." Nathan replied.

"No, Peyton told me that Jake had become a musician." Lucas said, and called the number, it was Jake! Jake told him he would be happy to play at his wedding, and told him that he would keep in touch. Lucas closed the phone. "I'm so proud of us" Lucas said, "We got a band and a DJ"

"This wedding is going to rock!" Nathan replied.


	18. Chapter 18

Late that night, the boys and girls met at Brooke and Chase's apartment. The girls collapsed on the couch. The boys came in to see them all dead tired.

"Who died?" Nathan joked.

Brooke heard the door open, opened an eye to see who it was, and when she saw it was the boys, she closed her eyes and tried to get some sleep.

"Hey look, my mom's here." Lucas said.

"My mom too." Nathan replied.

Chase walked by the couch that Brooke was sleeping on and kissed her forehead, and whispered; "I missed you today" Brooke turned around and gave Chase a kiss on the cheek, and then went back to bed. Chase pulled a blanket onto her. And then quietly walked back to the kitchen where the guys were having a snack.

"Yep. They're dead tired." Chase told him.

"Now, how to get them up?" Nathan said.

"Yeah…" Lucas said.

"Guys, I think we should leave them alone." Chase said.

"No way!" Nathan said.

Nathan went to get CD player and blasted the music. The girls started screaming. The guys started laughing. The girls all got up with their pillows are started hitting the guys with it.

"We've been running around all day!" Peyton screamed

"Yeah, show some respect" Brooke said.

"Man, the look on your faces was hilarious!" Nathan said laughing with Chase and Lucas.

"Chase, why are you laughing?" Brooke asked.

Chase stopped laughing. "I…I'm not laughing" he stuttered.

"Why were you running around all day?" Lucas said.

"Because you made me do all the wedding plans" Peyton frowned and hit Lucas.

"I'm sorry baby, but you don't want a Star Wars wedding do you?" Lucas asked.

The girls laughed, Peyton was still frowning. Nathan and Rachel were whispering something. Rachel started laughing.

"We're gonna go…" Nathan said, "Mom, I'll see you tomorrow"

"Alright baby" Deb replied.

He gave his mom a kiss on the cheek, and then left the apartment with Rachel.

"Yeah… we're going to go too" Peyton said, "I'm dead tired, and we'll be at it again tomorrow."

"Alright love." Brooke said.

"Mom, Deb, are you staying with us?" Lucas asked.

"If we're invited … yes." Karen smiled.

"Of course you guys are invited." Peyton said.

Lucas pulled Peyton aside.

"They're invited?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah…" Peyton said.

"Well I was hoping we would…you know tonight." Lucas told her.

"Well I guess you're going to have to stop moaning and be quiet in bed for once" Peyton said, and went back to the kitchen table. Lucas stood there stunned.

"We would be happy to have you in our apartment Karen and Deb." Peyton said.

"Alright it's settled." Deb said.

The four of them walked out of Brooke and Chase's apartment.

Brooke made sure that the door was closed before she turned to Chase who started kissing her neck.

"Wait till we get to the bedroom for that." Brooke said.

"I can't" Chase said.

Brooke took off her shirt, and they started to kiss. Chase carried her to the couch, lay her down and kissed her passionately. She tried to take off his shirt, but she couldn't it was stuck.

"What is this, childproof?" Brooke asked.

"I have no clue" Chase said.

Brooke wasn't able to get his shirt off so Chase got up and took it off himself.

"The moment is over Chase" she said, and pushed him off and headed for the bedroom.

Karen and Deb headed straight to bed when they arrived at Peyton and Lucas's apartment.

"So what did you girls get done today?" Lucas asked.

"Well we got the dresses done, the food is all ordered, and we got the centerpieces done as well." Peyton said, "And the mom's told me that they were going to set up the church, wedding bells, whatever."

"Wedding Bells?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah, they're old fashioned." Peyton replied.

"So what didn't you get done?" Lucas asked.

"The music." Peyton said, "And I'm really pissed off because I love music, and it's so messed up. We're on the hunt first thing tomorrow morning."

"Well I'm glad to hear it" Lucas said, "because the guys and I found both a DJ and a band."

Peyton looked confused, "I told you to only get the tuxes!" she told him

"Okay, that's the thanks I get!" Lucas exclaimed.

"No, but now you've paid complete strangers to play at our wedding Lucas?" Peyton asked.

"They're not strangers Peyton!" Lucas said, "I called Mouth, well actually Nathan called Mouth, and he said he would be happy to do it. And then well Chase heard about this band that Brooke loved, and it ended up to be Jake's band."

"Jake?" Peyton asked, "my ex boyfriend Jake?"

"Yeah, your ex boyfriend Jake." Lucas said.

"Isn't that going to be a little weird?" Peyton asked.

"No…why? Do you still have feeling for him?" Lucas said.

"No, I don't." Peyton said.

"Then we have nothing to worry about" Lucas said with a smile

"I still think it's going to be awkward" Peyton said.

"It's only going to be awkward if you make it awkward." Lucas said, "Now, I think I deserve a little something because of what me and the boys did."

Peyton smiled. "Wait for me in the bedroom."

Lucas walked into the bedroom.

"No moaning!" she yelled.

Lucas popped his head out "Peyton! My mom could have heard you!"

Rachel and Nathan were making out on the couch, when an idea struck Rachel and she stopped. She got up and opened Nathan's laptop.

"Okay, way to ruin a moment." Nathan said.

"Come here" she said, "I want to show you something."

Nathan got up, and stood by Rachel and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"What do you want to show me?" Nathan said as he looked at the screen and saw porn, "You want me to watch porn?"

"No! Well, yeah. But don't enjoy it. Observe it!" Rachel said.

"Observe porn…" he said.

"Yes" Rachel replied.

"Why am I observing porn" Nathan asked.

"Because we're doing those positions once you have them written down in your little horny brain." She replied.

"These people have …" Nathan was interrupted.

Rachel took something out of her bag and started juggling them.

"Handcuffs…" he continued.

"Exactly." Rachel said with a smile.

"I hope there are keys to unlock them" he said.

"Of course." Rachel said.

"What else to you have in there?" Nathan asked as he tried to peek inside.

"My toys…" she said, "Handcuffs are always first"

"I can't wait to see what's second" he replied.


	19. Chapter 19

Brooke and Rachel met for coffee to talk about the bridal shower. Brooke asked Rachel if they should call Haley, and ask her if she wanted to come. Rachel shrugged. She didn't want her there, because of the last incidence. It made sense to Brooke. Rachel had been hurting. Haley had told Rachel that guys just use her. And that hurts. Brooke had experience. Brooke and Rachel decided that calling Haley was the right thing to do, even if they maybe didn't want to. Brooke opened her cell phone and dialled Haley's number. Haley picked up the phone, and Brooke told her about the party. Haley asked when it was, and Brooke replied that it was tomorrow. Haley told Brooke she couldn't make it, she was doing a signing at a local mall. Brooke rolled her eyes, and Rachel knew what Haley was saying. Brooke told her if she could make it, that they would really appreciate it, and they told her it started 6, and to call them if she wanted to come.

* * *

The next day, Brooke and Rachel went to pick up Peyton, and Nathan and Chase went to go pick up Lucas. They scheduled the parties on the same day so that Lucas and Peyton wouldn't know what was going on. 

"Where are we going?" Peyton asked.

"You'll see" Brooke said.

Brooke and Rachel brought Peyton into the limo that Rachel had rented for the evening. Peyton was confused about what was going on. She didn't want to do any more planning for the wedding, she was tired.

"No planning tonight" Rachel said.

"Just…partying" Brooke said.

Peyton looked at Rachel and Brooke with a confused look. Rachel went behind her and blindfolded her.

"Relax" Brooke said.

* * *

Chase and Nathan got Lucas into the car. Lucas asked them where they were going, and the boys told him he just had to wait and see. Nathan pulled up to the strip club. 

"Oh, hell no." Lucas said.

"Surprise!" Chase said.

* * *

When they arrived, Rachel got out of the limo, held out her hands so Peyton could hold them since she couldn't see where she was going. Peyton held Rachel's hands, and then Brooke got out, and took one of Peyton's hands. Peyton smelt water. 

"Guys…?" Peyton said, "Where are we?"

Brooke and Rachel pulled Peyton in front of the party, and took off the blindfold, Peyton was speechless. There was a million dollar yawt standing in front of her. Peyton screeched and jumped onto the boat, "Let's party!" she screamed.

* * *

"Hell yeah!" Nathan said as they entered the strip club. 

There were so many different color lights. Chase was amazed; he had never been to a strip club. Lucas shook his head. Nathan told the guys to go up the runway, and sit. The boys followed him. Nathan gave a signal to one of the girls in the corner, and she came. The brunette came to the table, and asked the boys if they wanted anything to drink.

"Maybe later" Lucas said, and looked back to the runway.

"Nothing to drink, but this guy needs a lap dance." Nathan said.

Chase looked at Lucas and laughed.

"Oh, why didn't you say so?" she said as she went in front of Lucas and sexually amounted on him.

"No, no, no lap dances for me" Lucas replied.

"You're stressed." She said.

Nathan and Chase left Lucas and the stripper alone. She kissed Lucas's neck, and then faced Lucas. Lucas recognized her, but from where? She kissed him on the lips. He recognized the kiss. She faced him; it looked like she knew him as well.

"Whit?" Lucas asked.

* * *

Haley texted Brooke and it said that she came to New York, but she had to leave early. Brooke texted her back saying where they were. Rachel and Peyton were drinking vodka, while Karen and Deb were dancing. 

"Can we leave yet?" Peyton asked.

"Haley's on her way." Brooke said.

Rachel rolled her eyes, great! She thought.

Brooke told Rachel that she had to be the bigger person this time, pretend like nothing happened the previous time. The only thing was that something did happen.

* * *

"Lucas?" she asked, and got up really quickly. 

"What are you doing here???" he asked in real confusion.

Whitney realized why Lucas was so confused, and told him to meet her in the back of the club. Lucas nodded, and she rushed to the back on the club to get out of her stripper clothes. Lucas was puzzled. What was Whit doing here??

Haley came about a half an hour later, when the girls were really tipsy. Rachel told the captain to leave shore. Brooke blasted the music. "Let's get this party started!"

Rachel was pouring her drink, and couldn't get over the fact that Haley actually showed up. "What are you doing here Haley?" she asked finally.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, you told Brooke yesterday you were way too busy to come, and yet here you are." Rachel said.

"Well, I am a bridesmaid, and I think I should be here." Haley said.

"Well then if you wanted to be a good bridesmaid, you would have been here for the dress fitting and for the plans. And ugh! You weren't there!" Rachel said.

"I know I wasn't there." Haley said, "and I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cut it Haley" Rachel said.

Brooke and Peyton saw this was going to get ugly, and Brooke stepped up and pulled Rachel aside. "Peyton doesn't need this right now!" she said.

Rachel nodded, and walked back to where the party was.

"Let the games begin!" Rachel said and raised her glass to Haley.

* * *

Lucas was waiting outback for Whitney. He remembered their last conversation, and almost started to cry. The door opened and Whitney came out of the club. She had taken off the brown wig, and let her blond long hair hang. She looked down and kicked a rock, and walked towards Lucas. Lucas saw she was hurting. Whitney walked over to a bench and sat down. Lucas followed her.

* * *

"I'm sorry" she said. 

"Jake!" a guy called from the next room.

"What is it Jesse?" Jake asked.

"I can't work tonight." Jesse said, "I can only do half a night."

"It's alright, I'll cover for you." Jake said.

* * *

Rachel went to one of the back rooms, and brought out a woman. Peyton went to greet her. They shook hands. She told the girls to sit back and relax, and told Rachel to stay in front with her. The girls had confused looks on their faces. 2 poles rose from the ground. Brooke realized what Rachel had planned and started to laugh. Haley, Peyton, Deb and Karen still didn't know what was going on. Techno music came on, and Rachel smiled. She and the woman grabbed the pole, and started dancing. Brooke and Peyton started cheering. Karen and Deb were shocked, and Haley was speechless. Once their routine was done. Peyton went to go hug Rachel and thanked her. Rachel told her it was nothing. Brooke asked Rachel were she learnt how to dance like that. 

"Oh, it's this new thing Nathan and I have been trying out." Rachel said.

"Very hot" Deb said and laughed.

"Slut" Haley said as she faked coughed.

Brooke and Peyton rolled their eyes. Not again…they thought. Rachel looked at the girls and looked down and walked away.

"What a pussy" Haley said.

* * *

Nathan and Chase returned to the runway and couldn't find Lucas. 

"Guess he's getting action tonight" Nathan joked.

Chase laughed, and went to go watch the stippers do their thing on the poles, Nathan joined him. One of the stippers did the splits on the pole.

"Ouch." Chase said, "That's got to hurt"

"Nah, Rachel says it's not too hard." Nathan said. And they both started laughing.

* * *

It was silent between Whitney and Lucas. Lucas had his elbows on his knees, and had his head between in his hands. Whitney was sitting up straight and was looking off into space. 

"What are you doing here?" Lucas asked finally.

Whitey exhaled, and told him that after the incident in Tree Hill, she had to get out of Tree Hill for good.

"And become a stripper?" Lucas asked.

"It wasn't easy okay?" Whitney said, "I needed a job"

"McDonalds, Clothing Store" Lucas said, "Those are good options too."

"I know" Whitney said looking down.

"Why did your mom call me and tell me you died?" Lucas asked.

* * *

Rachel told the driver to stop in the nearby harbor. Peyton asked what was wrong. Rachel told her she would just have to wait and see. The pole dancer got off the yawt. 

"Oh…" Peyton said.

"That's not all." Brooke said.

6 guys with firefighter costumes came onto the yawt. Peyton was in shock. "You didn't!" she screamed.

"We did" Rachel and Brooke screamed back.

Peyton, Karen and Deb started jumping up and down. Haley didn't know what was going on. "And you got firefighters too!" Peyton said, "My favourite!"

The boys put on their music, and formed a star, they stripped with their music. They girls screamed with joy! Each of the guys went to one of the girls and started dancing with them.

* * *

Whitney held Lucas's hands and looked down. She started to cry. 

"Tell me what's going on Whit." Lucas said.

Whitney exhaled and told him she couldn't tell him. Lucas was furious. He pulled his hands back and got up. Whitney looked at him with tears in her eyes.

* * *

"Why don't we take this to my apartment" the man dancing with Peyton said. 

"Excuse me?" Peyton said.

Rachel was dancing with one of the strippers when she heard Peyton. Rachel walked over there and told her that she had to go with him. It was the last time to have a "good time" before she was boring and married.

Peyton laughed shyly.

"We don't have to do anything" he said, "It's just customary that I take you back to either your apartment or mine. We could make-out or talk. Take your pick."

Peyton looked at him, "Let's go to your apartment." She said.

Rachel smiled, and told the driver to dock the boat and he did what he was told. Peyton and the stripper got off the boat. Deb and Karen and their strippers got off as well and then the boat left again.

"Where's Peyton going?" Haley asked.

"Going to have sex with that hot stripper!" Rachel said.

"WHAT?" Haley asked.

"Calm down Haley!" Brooke said.

"No, I'm not going to calm down Brooke!" Haley said, "Peyton is Lucas's fiancée, she shouldn't be having sex with anyone!"

"It's her bridal shower!" Rachel replied, "This is what normal people do!"

"Yeah…Lucas is probably getting laid right now." Brooke added, "It's his bachelor party"

"Lucas is faithful to Peyton" Haley said.

Brooke and Rachel laughed. "Lucas…faithful?" Brooke asked, "Please!"

"Oh…right" Haley said.

Brooke left to get another drink. Rachel put the music louder. Haley got up from the couch, and walked over to Rachel.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Haley asked.

"Me?" Rachel said, "Nothing."

"No, there is something wrong with you," Haley said, "because Nathan is amazing in bed. The best I've ever had!"

"Oh my God, are you still on that!" Rachel exclaimed, "The only reason Nathan is the best you've ever had, is because he's the only one you've done it with!"

Haley rolled her eyes, "So?"

"So, you don't know who's good in bed, if it kicked you in the head" Rachel screamed.

"You are so wrong for Nathan…" Haley said.

"Am I really?" Rachel said, "He doesn't seem to think so."

"He's just confused by your fake ass and fake heart." Haley said.

"Fake heart?" Rachel said sarcastically, "Can you actually buy those?"

"You'll see," Haley said, "Nathan's going to realize I'm the girl for him"

"Maybe in your dreams…" Rachel responded.

"No, in reality!" Haley said.

"Really? Then why did he give me this?" Rachel said as she reached into her bag and pulled out a ring.

"Is that?" Haley said heartbroken.

"Oh my God!" Rachel said, "No, it's not an engagement ring, if you think it's an engagement ring you've got issues, the diamond is all wrong for an engagement ring"

"What is it then?" Haley asked.

"A promise ring." Rachel said, "What's that you ask? It's a promise that we will end up together."

Haley took the ring and looked at it, she started to cry.

"This is fake," she said holding the ring, "You're fake!"

"The only one that is fake is you!" Rachel said, "You're the one with the fake feelings, you say you love Nathan, but you don't! You really don't!"

"Of course I do!" Haley said

"No. if you did, you wouldn't have asked for a divorce." Rachel said.

"I was confused." Haley replied.

"Confused my ass!" Rachel told her, "You did it so Nathan would run back to you like a little puppy, and guess what? He didn't!"

"You're a bitch you know that?" Haley said.

"Really? Am I?" Rachel said.

Rachel slapped Haley, "That's because I'm a bitch!" Rachel slapped Haley again, "and that!" she screamed, "is for trying to steal my boyfriend!" Rachel walked away.

"How dare she!" Haley said.

"I've been waiting to do that all year!" Rachel told herself.

* * *

Peyton and the stripper walked to what she thought was his apartment. They walked into the apartment, and Peyton went to go sit on the couch. "Nice place." Peyton said as she looked around. 

It looked like a family house. There were drawings made by kids on the fridge. Probably made by nieces and nephews she thought. The stripper gave Peyton a bottle of beer, and they drank together. Peyton turned to the stripper and kissed him, "Let's get going, before I change my mind." Peyton said.

"Ah…actually." He said, "This isn't my apartment, I can't stay tonight. But there will be someone on his way. I will stay with you until he comes."

"Oh…" she said.

Peyton and Jesse, (she finally found out his name) talked for about 10 minutes. The door opened, Jesse got up, and left Peyton his number, and told her that they should meet up for coffee some day. Jesse left, and the new stripper came in. Peyton was waiting in the living room. The man was walking around the corner when he said, "Hey, my name is" he turned the corner and saw Peyton's face. Peyton was shocked. "Jake…" he said.

Peyton couldn't find words to say. Jake's eyes went big. He sat on the couch next to her. He didn't understand why Peyton had hired a stripper. He asked her and she told him that she was getting married, and the strippers were part of the show for her bridal shower.

"Married…" he said.

"Yeah…" she replied.

Jake smiled and gave her a hug. "I'm happy for you" he said.

"He's really great…" Peyton said with a tear in her eye. "I'm sorry" she said and ran to the bathroom.

Peyton was over Jake right? I mean, she loved Lucas, but did she still have feelings for Jake. She never thought about it, she told herself she didn't have feelings for Jake. But did she? Jake had changed a lot since she last saw him. He had grown a little stumble of a go-ti. He looked amazing. She felt an ache in her heart, where Jake used to be, and maybe still was. She looked in the mirror and wiped away her tears. She opened the door and Jake was standing right there. He exhaled and grabbed her and kissed her. He carried her to the couch, still kissing, and took off her shirt. And she unbuckled his pants. Peyton threw her shirt away and it landed on a lamp.

* * *

"No. Whit, you are telling what happened, and why you had your mother tell me you were dead, when clearly you're not!" Lucas said. 

"I lied to you," Whitney said.

"Just tell me what happened in the hospital." Lucas said.

"Luke, you were by my side everyday. You didn't have any energy and didn't sleep for months." Whitney said with a tear in her eye, "We didn't know if I was going to make it or not"

This was really hard for Whitney, all this pain, all this anger; she had been keeping inside of her for several years, was finally coming out. Lucas almost started to cry but Whitney continued her story.

"I told my mom to tell you I had died over night, because I didn't want you suffering anymore then you already had." She said.

"Are you kidding?" Lucas said, "Hearing that news almost killed me."

"But I knew you would get over me and over this horrible experience if I was gone, and it was the only way I could think of." She said.

"But I didn't want to get over you Whit." Lucas said, "I told myself that I wouldn't let anything happen to you. You were my soul mate Whit. I would have done anything for you. You knew that."

"Luke, we were never soul mates," she said, "our moms were best friends, and wanted us to be together. It was more of an arranged relationship."

"So you're telling me that you never thought of getting married to me?" he asked.

"Of course I did Lucas. I loved you." Whitney said, and she was really crying now.

"Then why would you tell your mom to tell me you were dead?" Lucas asked.

"Because I was weak, and couldn't talk." Whitney said.

"I still would have been beside you forever." He said.

"There was a huge chance I wouldn't be alive Lucas! And I didn't want you to grieve for me forever." She said, "You have moved on Lucas, and I'm really happy for you."

"You know I always wanted you to be the one beside me Whit." He told her.

"Lucas, I had cancer." Whitney said, "I had no chance."

"When why are you standing in front of me right now?" Lucas asked.

"Well, it's a long story." Whitney replied.

"I've got all night." He said.

Whitney exhaled, and told Lucas that there was a doctor in New York who had found a cure. It wasn't 100 percent yet. But she wanted to try anything so she could get better and go back to him.

"So when you got the treatments done," Lucas said, "Why didn't you come back to me?"

"Because you had moved on," Whitney said, "With Brooke Davis…"

"I wasn't in love with Brooke, Whit." Lucas said, "If you would have told me you were cancer free, you know I would have come back to you. Brooke would have understood."

"But something inside of me didn't want me to come back to you Luke." Whitney said, "I was bald, and ugly."

"You will never be ugly Whit." Lucas said as he kissed her hand.

"I don't want to do this Lucas. I can't" Whitney said, "Tell me what's going on now."

"Right now?" Lucas said.

He wiped her tears, stroked her hair back, and grabbed her and kissed her lips gently but passionately. He had never gotten over her; she still had a huge part of his heart. He completely forgot about Peyton in that moment.

"Lucas…I'm still in love with you" she said, "I never stopped."

Lucas exhaled. "I will always love you Whit."

* * *

Hey guys! It's Amanda, the author. this is the last chapter for Only The Beginning for a while. i'm going on vacation. and i won't have any time to update. i'm really sorry. especially to all those who have been reading every chapter and the people that are hooked. i'm coming back August 23. Please leave your comments on the reviews :) i would love to hear if you like the Whit/Lucas storlyline, and the Jeyton.

Spoilers. this is what i'm thinking read if you would like to be spoiled

- Haley and Rachel - Clash of the Titans at the Leyton Wedding.

- Chase gets into a bar fighting accident. his life is threated.

- Whitney finds out about the Leyton baby, and tells Lucas to go back to Peyton.

- Haley leaves New York after the wedding. but comes back on tour with Chris Keller. Haley writes a song about her and Nathan's love. will it Change his mind about Rachel?

that's all i've got so far. please leave your comments :) thank you


	20. Chapter 20

Peyton woke up the next morning and rolled over to face the man that she loved so many years ago. Remembering certain moments she spent with him, watching him sing at Karen's café for the first time, passing him the ball when it went offside, their first kiss, when she went to go visit him in Savannah. She suddenly realised that she still had feelings for him. He was her first love, and feelings that deep don't really ever go away. Peyton stared at Jake and smiled. He opened his eyes to see a beautiful smile flashing in his face.

"Morning" she said.

"How long have you been up?"

"Not long, just a couple of minutes" she replied.

Jake leaned in and kissed her. Peyton then got up and starting making breakfast. Jake received a text message from Jesse. It asked how his new friend, the bride-to-be was holding up. "Bride-to-be?" Jake asked himself. He remembered that Peyton was engaged. He got caught up in the moment that he completely forgot. Peyton came into the room with one of Jake's shirts on, with breakfast. She saw that Jake was thinking about something and she asked him what was wrong.

"You're engaged Peyton!" Jake said.

Peyton gasped. What was she doing? What had she done last night?

"I'm so stupid," she said getting up from the bed.

"Hey, it's not your fault. It's my fault."

"We're both to blame Jake."

Jake nodded. Peyton went to go put on her clothes then met Jake at the door. He opened the door for her and said, "We'll pretend it never happened."

Peyton nodded. They had to do this, because if Lucas found out, he would never forgive her. And she loved Lucas, she did. She wanted to marry him didn't she?

Jake closed the door after Peyton got out. Peyton crossed the street and looked back at Jake's house.

"But Jake, it did happen" Peyton told herself.

Lucas woke up that morning, looked over to the side where Peyton was suppose to be, but she wasn't there. She hadn't come home last night? Where was she? Lucas supposed Brooke would know since she was probably the last one to see Peyton at the bridal shower so he decided to call Brooke after he ate breakfast. As Lucas poured his cereal, he remembered what had happened the night before. Whitney, his first love came back into his life, they shared a heart warming kiss and after that, they talked. Before Lucas left Whitney he gave her a note that said to meet him at the Mike Barnes's bookstore at 10 the following morning. Lucas looked over at the clock on the stove and it was 9:30. He ran out of the kitchen to the bedroom and got dressed. He brushed his teeth, went to the bathroom, and then shaved. Before he left he called Brooke to make sure Peyton was okay.

Brooke awoke by the sound of the phone, and hit Chase to pick it up. Chase didn't budge to get it, he was in a deep sleep. She pouted, reached over Chase, and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" she said angrily.

"Hey Brooke" Lucas said.

"Oh hey Luke" Brooke replied.

"Peyton's with you right?" Lucas asked.

Brooke looked around to see what she was missing. Peyton wasn't at her house…Brooke remembered that Peyton left with one of the strippers and covered for her.

"Yeah, she's right here." Brooke lied.

"Okay, good. I started getting worried."

"Everything is fine. Don't worry"

"Tell Peyton that I'm going out for a little bit"

"Alright, will do." Brooke said, and closed the phone.

"Oh Peyton, you have A LOT of explaining to do!" Brooke said to herself. She dialled Rachel's cell. Nathan and Rachel were making out on the couch when the "Summer Love" ringtone went off. Rachel picked up her phone laughing as Nathan was kissing her neck.

"Hello?" Rachel squealed

"Rachel, we have a problem!" Brooke said.

"Why, what's up?" Rachel asked.

"Peyton didn't go home last night, and…"

"That's my girl!" Rachel interrupted Brooke.

"No, not funny Rach." She said, "We have to go find her." Brooke hung up the phone, got dressed and ran out of the apartment.

Peyton knocked on Jake's door. He opened it and told her that they couldn't be together, that it was just plain wrong. Peyton said that she knew that they couldn't be together again but told him if they were going to pretend that nothing happened between them they should be able to talk. So Jake invited her in and put on a pot of coffee.

Lucas sat down with a morning coffee and a book in his hand when he saw Whitney come in. He got up and waved; she saw him and walked towards him. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and sat down. He smiled, he hadn't told her about Peyton yet. She got a coffee and asked Lucas a very serious question;

"Lucas, what are we exactly?"

"Friends…"

"Just friends?" Whitney asked, "because your kiss said differently last night"

"That was a big mistake on my part." Lucas told her, "I have a fiancée, and she is carrying my child."

Whitney looked at him in shock, "why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know…I was just shocked to see you, I guess I sort of forgot." Lucas said, "I want you to come to the wedding."

Jake and Peyton were sitting at the kitchen table.

"So how is Jenny?"

"Jenny is great, she misses you though. A lot."

"I miss her too."

"I know, I'll bring her to the wedding."

"You're coming?"

'Yeah…I'm in the band. Lucas didn't tell you?"

"Oh, right. Of course."

Peyton took a sip of coffee. She looked him straight in the eyes and asked him.

"Okay, well I've been meaning to ask you, how does a father become a stripper?"

Jake laughed, "it's a really funny story actually."

"I would really love to hear it." Peyton said biting her lip.

"Well you remember when you came to Savannah?" Jake asked taking a sip of coffee. Peyton nodded. "Well after about 6 months, I was working at the airport, and this poor redhead got on the wrong plane and ended up in Savannah. She was on her way to LA to see her parents. The next plane to LA was in a week, so she was stuck. Anyway we were both kind of horny that night and we headed back to my house. She saw Jenny and lost her horniness and started playing with her." Jake said

"Interesting…" Peyton said. "But that still doesn't answer my question"

Jake laughed again, "Anyway, after Jenny went to bed, we talked. And I explained how hard it really was to raise Jenny being a single dad in the financial way. So she told me she had an idea. I called Jenny's nanny and we went to a strip club. They were giving free lessons. It was really good pay okay?"

Peyton laughed really hard, "So she made you a stripper?"

"It's actually really fun. It exercises the body Peyt."

"Aren't you scared of getting AIDS or something.?"

"We don't usually sleep with the clients, you were an exception, usually I just dance."

"So who is this girl?"

"Rachel…"

"Gattina?"

"Yeah…"Jake had a confused look on his face, "guess you know her?"

"Yeah, she's one of my best friends…"Peyton said with a smile, "Man, that girl gets around."

"What do you mean?" Jake asked.

"Well she's dated celebrities, then she comes to Tree Hill, got naked with Lucas playing basketball, kissed Mouth, had an affair with Nathan's uncle Cooper, Chris Keller was attracted to her, tried to seduce Nathan while he was married to Haley, dated Noah for a couple weeks, then tried being a clean teen for a little while." Peyton said.

"Clean teen?" Jake asked.

"Yeah, you know, people who say, wait till your wedding night to have sex."

"Rachel? A clean teen? I'm confused."

"She only did it because it was a total guy magnet." Peyton said, "Oh, and now she's dating Nathan."

"Huh?"

"it's a really long story Jake, I'll explain it some other time."

"You're right, that girl does get around."

Peyton's phone went off, she opened it and said "Hello?"

"Peyton! You have a lot of explaining to do missy! Where are you?" Brooke asked.

"I'm with Jake."

"Jake?" Brooke asked.

"Yeah, tell you later." Peyton said.

"No, we're coming to get you."

"No, I'll meet you at the apartment."

"Which one?"

"Mine." Peyton said as she closed her cell.

About 20 mintues later Brooke and Rachel arrived at Peyton and Lucas's apartment. They knocked on the door. Peyton opened it with a huge smile on her face. Brooke and Rachel walked in and sat on the couch. Peyton closed the door and followed them.

"Okay. Why didn't you go home to Luke last night Peyt?" Brooke asked.

"She had sex…" Rachel said out of the blue.

"huh?" Brooke asked, "how did you get that?"

"She's got that big grin that Nathan had the first time we had sex. But Peyton's smile is a little larger which means it was better then Rachel sex and that is REALLY rare." Rachel said nodding her head.

"Wow." Brooke said as she turned to Peyton who was laughing.

"Well… Jesse couldn't stay, so he got a replacement, and Jake was the replacement, and well… you know. Things got a little out of hand…"

"And you slept with him…?" Brooke asked.

"Well…yeah" Peyton said shyly.

"That is my girl!" Rachel said and gave Peyton a high five. Rachel put the pieces together and realized that the guy Jake Peyton was talking about was her Jake in Savannah.

"Jake…does he have a daughter?" Rachel asked making sure it was the right Jake.

"Yeah…"

"I know him."

"Yeah you do."

"He's amazing in bed."

"Oh God yeah! He got a lot better. What did you do?"

"Well… we played with some of my toys." Rachel winked.

"They worked." Peyton said.

"Okay, I'm really feeling out of the loop here cause I haven't slept with Jake!" Brooke pouted. Peyton and Rachel laughed.

"So Jigalow is still a stripper."

"Who?"

"Oh, that's the nickname I gave him since I couldn't pronounce his last name."

"Jigalow?" Brooke asked.

"Yep." Rachel laughed.

The girls talked about their wild night. Rachel told Peyton that she slapped Haley twice. Brooke smacked Peyton behind the head.

"Ah, ouch. What was that for?"

"Peyton! You're so stupid! You're carrying Lucas's child! It hasn't even been 2 months yet and you had intercourse with …."

"Intercourse…Brooke, just call it sex." Rachel interrupted her knowing she would get mad.

"Anyway…you could have lost the baby Peyt!"

Peyton raised her eye brows, she hadn't thought out this yet. She ran to the bathroom and brought out a pregnancy test.

"Nice, that's where I keep mine" Rachel said.

Peyton went into the bathroom, 5 minutes later she came out and screamed, "I lost the baby."


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Whitney hestitated to answer Lucas. I mean, she still loved Lucas. Wasn't it going to be really hard to watch him marry someone else? But she decided that it would be the right thing to do so she accepted the invitation. It was her fault that Lucas and herself weren't the ones getting married. She blamed herself completely. But Lucas looked really happy, so…it was the right thing to do she told herself. Lucas was happy to hear that Whitney would be attending the wedding. They got up and hugged and then walked out of the bookstore together.

* * *

It was the day before the wedding and everyone was arriving. They were going to have a reunion party that night. Since Rachel and Nathan were throwing the party, Rachel had to leave Peyton's about an hour after she arrived. She told the girls she would see them that night, and left.

"What am I going to do Brooke?" Peyton asked after Rachel closed the door.

"What do you mean?" Brooke asked.

"I just lost my baby. What am I going to do?" Peyton said with a sob.

"Well. We can go to the hospital, and see what's going on babe." Brooke said wiping Peyton's tears.

Peyton nodded and they ran out of the apartment, got into the car and drove off to the hospital.

* * *

Chase was helping Nathan decorate the apartment when Rachel arrived. She went to go kiss Nathan on the cheek and Chase asked her where Brooke was. Rachel told him that Brooke was dealing with a crisis but that she was okay. Chase got a little worried, but nodded. Nathan asked Rachel if she wanted to invite Haley to the party. Rachel rolled her eyes. Nathan knew Haley wasn't her favourite person. She was trying to steal him away from her, but Nathan is so blind and couldn't see it.

"I guess that's a no…" Nathan said.

"Why don't you two get along? I mean, I don't know her too well but she seems cool." Chase stated.

"You're only saying that cause she's not trying to steal Brooke away from you."

"Not this again. Rach. Haley is not trying to steal me away from you. She was the one that wanted the divorce remember?" Nathan asked.

"Yes, I remember. But Nathan, you weren't there. At the bridal shower…"

"I'm sure you took it the wrong way." Chase told her.

"No. I heard what she had to say and then I showed her the ring." Rachel told Nathan.

Chase had a confused look on his face. Ring? What ring? He thought. Rachel took out the ring and told Nathan that she didn't want to hide it anymore.

"Wait a second… you two are engaged?" Chase asked with a smile.

Nathan and Rachel looked at each other and laughed. "Please…" they both answered.

"It's a promise ring Chase," Rachel told him, "it's a promise that we're going to end up together."

"Wow. Congrats you guys. I'm so happy for you. But why were you hiding it?" Chase asked.

"We didn't want to steal the thunder from Lucas and Peyton, considering they are taking the biggest step." Nathan stated.

* * *

Lucas told Whitney about the party that night and told her that he wanted her to come. Whitney told him that she shouldn't, that it wouldn't be appropriate, that is was a reunion for his friends.

"Well, coming back from the dead, kinda makes you part of a reunion Whit." Lucas said.

"Fine. I'll come." Whit said.

Lucas smiled and told Whitney that Haley was going to be there too. Whitney smiled and said that she really missed Haley. Whitney, Haley and Lucas were all really close when they were young. Lucas gave Whitney the address and told her to go around 7.

* * *

Peyton and Brooke were waiting for the results for about an hour. The doctor finally came out and told them that Peyton had lost the baby and that they should remove the dead egg as soon as possible. Peyton started to cry, Brooke rubbed her back. Peyton decided to remove it right away since she was already there. Peyton followed the doctor into one of the examination rooms. Brooke sat back down in the chair, took out her cell phone and called Chase. He asked her where she was, and Brooke explained everything that happened. He told her he was on his way and closed the phone. Chase left Nathan and Rachel's in a hurry. Once Chase had left, Nathan and Rachel left to go get food.

Chase ran by Brooke's side when he arrived that the hospital. Peyton came out of the room with her head down and arms crossed. She had been crying, Brooke could see it. Brooke walked over and rubbed her back and told her everything was going to be okay. Once the girls had reached Chase, he gave Peyton a hug. Chase put his arm around Peyton, while Peyton placed her head on Brooke's shoulder who was holding her up from the other side. The three of them exhaled and walked out of the hospital together. As they got to the car, Bevin received a text message from Bevin saying that she was with Skillz, Mouth and Shelley and that they would be arriving in about an hour. Brooke closed her phone and told Chase and Peyton.

"Where to?" Chase asked like he was a cab driver.

"The airport" Peyton said with a smile on her face.

Chase drove the ladies to the airport as he was told. Peyton opened her phone and texted Lucas that they needed to talk in person. Calling was very different from speaking face to face especially for important situations like this one.

* * *

Rachel put on "Thanks for the Memories" by Fall Out Boy and started singing. Nathan smiled, he loved this song and put the volume higher. They sang together, then both started laughing. Rachel smiled at Nathan.

"I really love this song" Nathan told her.

"I know, me too. Something about it just makes you want to listen to it over and over again." Rachel said.

"Exactly. But I mean, some of their songs are horrible." Nathan said.

"Dance, Dance is played too much, it's gotten really old." Rachel replied.

"Oh yeah, there's a really good song on their new album though…" Nathan said but couldn't remember the song's name. Rachel tried to think of which song Nathan was thinking of. She asked about a bunch of their songs, but it wasn't the one that he was thinking about.

Rachel snapped her fingers. "This Ain't A Scene An Arms Race."

"Yeah, that's it"

"It rocks!" Rachel told him.

"I didn't know you were a rocker…well…punker…" Nathan laughed.

Rachel laughed as well. "Just cause I'm a party girl, doesn't mean I don't know how to rock." Rachel replied doing the rock symbol.

* * *

Lucas walked Whitney home and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He walked down the street towards his apartment. He opened his phone and saw the text message that Peyton had left for him. He called Peyton's phone but he got her voicemail. He closed it and headed home to get ready for the party.

* * *

"So are we inviting Haley or not?" Nathan finally asked Rachel

"Fine, you know, I mean she is part of the bridal party right? So I guess she has to." Rachel said.

"Alright. You want to call her, or should I?" Nathan asked.

Rachel gave him a dirty look. Obviously she didn't want to call her. She didn't even want Haley to come at all.

"Okay, judging by your expression, I'll call her." Nathan said and took out his phone and dialled Haley's cell. She picked up the phone.

"Haley? It's Nathan."

"Oh hey baby, how are you?"

"I'm great how are you?

"Fine. So what's up?"

"We're having a party tonight, kind of like a reunion with people from Tree Hill.

"Oh, sounds fun." Haley said, "Who's we?"

"Huh?"

"You said, "We're having a party…"

"Yeah…me and Rachel are throwing the party Hales."

"You still haven't dumped her yet?" Haley asked.

"Haley, stop. Are you coming or not."

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Haley said.

"Alright, see you at the apartment at 7."

Haley closed her phone, looked at a picture of her and Nathan that was standing on the table by her bed and exhaled. "You will be mine again Nathan."


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

It was 6:30, the party was going to start in about half an hour. Nathan put the hot dogs on the barbeque, Rachel watched him. Nathan went inside and put the taco shells in the oven. About 15 mintues later Rachel came in with the hot dogs. She looked over at Nathan who picked up a taco shell, and broke. Rachel put her hand over her mouth and laughed.

"You're such a Mr. Mom." Rachel said

"Thanks" Nathan said, "I hope I could be a good Mr. Mom when we decide to start a family Rach."

Rachel smiled, she had been thinking about starting a family with Nathan too. She wasn't ready yet, and they were no where near that stage of a relationship yet, but she couldn't help but wonder. Rachel leaned in to kiss Nathan, but Nathan met her more then halfway and kissed her. She went to the fridge and took out the drinks and put them on the table. She also took out some chips and placed them next to the drinks.

"Chips and drinks are ready" Rachel said.

"Taco meat is almost done" Nathan said leaning over the stove, stirring the taco meat.

"What should we do in the meantime?" Rachel said raising her eyebrows.

"Hold that thought babe." Nathan said taking the pot of hot taco meat off the stove.

Rachel went next to him and started cutting tomatoes. Nathan smiled and started cutting the lettuce. Once they were done Nathan held Rachel's hand and brought her to the couch. Rachel pushed Nathan onto the bed and mounted him like a horse.

"Ride that pony baby." Nathan said enthusiastically.

Rachel gave him a really weird look, those words he had just were a complete turn off.

"Dammit. It worked with Haley."

"Wow, Haley's desperate"

"I'm sorry."

Nathan leaned in for a kiss, but instead flipped Rachel over and they started making out. Chase, Brooke, Skillz, and Bevin walked in with a shocked look on their faces.

"Take a breather Nate." Chase joked.

Rachel and Nathan looked up and innocently smiled. Rachel saw Bevin and pushed Nathan off and ran to her, she gave her a big hug.

"God, I've missed you so much." Rachel said.

"How have you been love?" Bevin asked her.

"Great," Rachel said as she turned to face Nathan, "As you can see"

"Yeah, I can see."

Nathan got up from the floor, walked over to Skillz, and gave him a hug.

"How are you dawg?"

"Fine." Nathan replied.

"Looks better then fine Nate." Chase interrupted.

There was a knock on the door. Rachel went to go open the door, when she saw Mouth, she totally freaked out, and gave him a hug jumping up and down. Rachel gave a hug to Shelly as well.

"We'll catch up later Mouthie."

"Sounds good."

Lucas, Peyton, Haley and Chris arrived within minutes. Everyone sat on the couch and started chatting about their new lives. Bevin and Skillz were talking about taking their relationship to the next level. Mouth and Shelly were living together. Chris and Haley were pretending to be together, but everyone knew that they were faking it. Groups started to break off to have more of a private conversation. There was a knock on the door. Nobody got up to see who it was. They kept ringing the doorbell. Since Haley was standing next to the door getting really annoyed by the doorbell sound. She yelled at Rachel to answer her door but she was too busy laughing and drinking with Bevin and Brooke. She looked at Nathan, but didn't bother asking him, he was too into his conversation with Skillz and Chase.

"So yeah, I'm going to graduate next Christmas" Shelly told Haley.

"Hold that thought" Haley said as she headed to the door to open it. A blond haired girl turned around, Haley was in shock.

"Whitney?" Haley asked.

"Hi Hales." Whitney said with a smile

Haley jumped up and down, she couldn't believe her eyes. She grabbed Whitney and pulled her in for a hug.

"How?"

"It's a long story Hales…"

Lucas saw that Whitney had arrived at the door and was talking to Haley. He headed over towards the girls.

"Thanks for coming" Lucas said as he approached them

"Hey, no problem." Whitney said, "So who's the lucky girl?"

Lucas pointed to Peyton who was laughing with Bevin.

"She's beautiful Luke."

"Yeah, she is."

Haley looked at Whitney and Lucas and remembered the love they once shared with each other and wondered if something was going on with the both of them. Lucas walked over to Peyton and the girls and introduced Whitney to his fiancée.

"Peyt. This is Whitney, one of my oldest friends…"

"Hi, I'm Peyton…" Peyton said with a smile.

Haley looked over at Chris who was dancing by himself, she rolled her eyes and walked up to him.

"You're not doing your job Keller."

"Haley, no one is buying it anyway."

"Ugh. Do I have to do everything myself!"

Whitney saw Skillz from a far. She grabbed a drink, took a sip, and ran behind Skill and said, "Antwon, that you dog?"

"That's Skillz to …" Skillz said and saw Whitney, "You…"

Skillz smiled and gave her a hug and spun her around.

Haley walked over to Nathan and tapped him on his back. Nathan looked over his shoulder and saw Haley. Haley asked him if she could have a picture with him.

"Alright, you gotta cam?"

"My phone…"

Haley took out her phone but pretended it was broken

"Crap" Haley said.

"Here we'll use mine." Nathan said with a smile

"Great!" Haley said cheerfully, it was just what she wanted.

Nathan and Haley put their heads together and Nathan pressed the button to capture the picture.

"Crap I got to pee." Nathan said and got up to go to the bathroom.

"Go ahead."

Nathan ran to the bathroom and Haley clicked save.

"But that's not all I'm going to do," Haley said as she changing the picture of Nathan and Rachel in the photo booth kissing to the picture that she and Nathan just took together, "Now, all I have to do is get Rachel to see it."


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

After supper, Haley walked up to Rachel who was avoiding her all night and asked her if there was going to be cake. Rachel laughed, but Haley didn't get the joke.

"Never mind, and no I didn't get cake."

"What kind of party is this without cake Rachel?" Haley questioned, "And they say you're a party girl."

"You're right." Rachel said as she got out her phone to call the cake place a couple of blocks down. She opened the phone and saw she had no battery to make the call. She screamed at Nathan telling him she was going to use his phone but he was too busy taking shots with Lucas. She grabbed his phone and opened it. Rachel saw the picture of her and Nathan was gone, and a new one was put it, and the picture was of Haley and Nathan, she was speechless. Haley pretended not to know what had happened and went behind Rachel and saw the picture of her and Nathan and smiled.

"We look good together, don't we?"

"Yeah, like one happy one couple"

Rachel closed the phone and ran to the bathroom. Nathan saw that Haley had been talking to Rachel and ran over to Haley to ask what had happened. Haley shrugged. Nathan ran to the bathroom and knocked on the bathroom door, and heard Rachel crying inside. Brooke, Peyton and Chase came to the door to see what happened. Nathan told Rachel to come out, but there was no answer.

"Come out" Brooke said banging the door.

"Guys, just leave me alone!" Rachel said, sitting on the toilet seat.

"Not until you come out Rach." Chase said.

"Yeah, we're not moving."

Rachel opened the door in tears, Nathan went inside the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Brooke walked over to Haley and asked her what she did.

"I didn't do anything."

"Haley, that's bull, cause she's been cheery all night, and then she talks to you and she's crying in the bathroom."

"She's crying? What a baby." Haley laughed.

Brooke shook her head and walked away. Whitney walked over and asked what that was about. Haley told her it was nothing and quickly changed subjects and asked her why she didn't tell her she was alive way back when.

"Because I got back to Tree Hill, and you guys had moved on, you were with Nathan and Lucas was with Brooke and I just didn't fit in."

Nathan walked towards Rachel but she turned away. She didn't want to talk to him. Nathan sat on the side of the bathtub and rubbed her legs. Rachel looked down and stroked her hand threw her hair. She hated Nathan seeing her like this. She didn't want to seem to be like a little girl who cried, she wanted to be tough, and even if she did get hurt she could laugh it off, but that wasn't Rachel's character.

"What's going on?" Nathan asked her

"Nothing," Rachel said, "I just saw who my boyfriend who says he loves me, actually wants to be with."

"Not this again. I don't want to be with Haley, I want to be with you Rach." Nathan told her lifting up her head, "But if you don't trust me, how is our relationship going to work?"

"I want to trust you, I do."

"Then trust me," Nathan said as he grabbed her with his hands and kiss her gently. It looked like Rachel was enjoying the kiss, but pushed him off and get up from the toilet.

"I can't trust you Nate," Rachel said as she turned to face him, "When you've got Haley in your heart."

"Haley isn't in my heart anymore Rachel." Nathan reassured her.

"Really? Rachel asked him with a snarky attitude, "Well your phone background says differently."

"What?" Nathan asked, now he had no clue what Rachel was talking about."

Rachel took out his phone from her pocket and showed it to him. Nathan looked at the picture with a very dazed look. He hadn't even put that picture on his background.

"No, you're so wrong about this" Nathan told her.

"I don't want to hear it anymore Nathan. I've listened to too many of your stories, and I'm sick of them." Rachel said with a sob, "I want you to leave. Leave me in the bathroom, alone."

"No, I'm not leaving until I tell you my side of the story."

"Like I said, I don't want to hear it."

Nathan looked down, got up, closed his phone and left. One the way out Nathan saw Brooke and Peyton, and told them to go make sure that Rachel was okay. The girls nodded. He then walked over to Haley, and opened his phone, "What's this about?"

"It's cute eh?" Haley said.

"No, why did you change my background?"

"Because, the one of you and Rachel was really ugly, and ours is really hot."

Nathan shook his head and pulled Haley to the side.

"What the hell are you doing?" Nathan furiously asked, "Are you trying to break me and Rachel up?"

"Me? Of course not." Haley lied, "Why would I do that?"

"Rachel seems to think that you are."

"Well, Rachel just wants attention Nathan"

"Because no one used to pay attention to her Rachel."

"They are very smart people."

"Haley!" Nathan screamed, "You don't know Rachel, so unless you take the time to know her please don't judge her."

"She's done horrible things Nathan."

"Like what?"

"Like trying to steal Lucas away from Brooke, getting me fired, trying to seduce you, then she made a spectacle at our reception, she almost killed your uncle Cooper. The list goes on you know?"

"You've done horrible things as well Haley."

"Like what?" Haley questioned, "And none of them are as horrible as her."

"Like what you asked, let's see," Nathan said taking a journey down memory lane, "Like leaving me for the tour, like wanting me to forget that you left me when you got back. Not telling me you were pregnant once you found out. Oh and probably the biggest thing, blaming me for our son's death, when both you and I know, it wasn't my fault at all." Nathan stormed off, but wasn't finished so turned to face Haley again, "and Rachel has done some great things. She got expelled for Brooke, and most important, she was there when I needed her." He left before Haley could answer.

Peyton walked over to Lucas later on that night. She had hardly seen him all day. She still hadn't told him about the baby. She wanted to tell him at that exact moment. But when is the best time to tell you're husband-to-be that you lost his child? She guessed now would be a good time.

"Luke?" Peyton said, "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure."

Peyton held Lucas's hand and walked outside while Lucas followed. He closed the door behind them.

"You know I love you right?" Peyton told him.

"Yeah, of course I do."

"You know I would never want to hurt you."

"Okay, what's going on?"

"I lost our baby Luke, I lost it." Peyton said with a huge sob.

Lucas swallowed hard and gave Peyton, who was crying a hug. He told her that it wasn't her fault and these things happen all the time.

"So where does this leave us Luke?"

"You don't still want to get married do you?"


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Whitney and Haley were talking about Lucas. Whitney still wasn't over Lucas, and Haley could see it.

"I don't know what I'm going to do Hales."

"Have you told him?"

"Now, how could I? He's getting married tomorrow."

"Tell him. Trust me, you don't want to keep your feelings a secret because then that person will move on without out."

"Are we still talking about me and Lucas or you and Nathan?"

Haley looked over at Nathan and sighed. Yeah, they had changed couples.

Peyton couldn't believe what she was hearing. Was he breaking off the engagement? Did he just want to marry her because she was pregnant? Did he even love her?

Brooke and Bevin walked in the bathroom to see Rachel on the toilet in tears. The two of them went to go comfort their best friend. They asked her what was going on.

"Haley's the one in Nathan's heart. And for all I care, they can have each other. Haley's been fighting and I surrender. They are soul mates, let them be happy."

"Rachel, you know Nathan loves you." Brooke told her.

"No, he doesn't" Rachel said looking up, "Haley was right. Guys pretend to like you, they use you and then you end falling in love with them, and in a matter of seconds they break your hear by leaving."

"Haley was probably saying that because she wants you to have doubts about your relationship with Nathan." Bevin said.

"And it looks likes it's working Rachel. She's just jealous." Brooke said rubbing her back."

"Whatever. I'm over with this whole thing. I'm over Nathan, I'm over what we called a relationship. I'm over this idea of a great love, because it looks like I'm never going to be in a healthy relationship. I'm going to be used for the rest of my life, and that's it. I'm over it all."

"You are in a healthy relationship Rachel," Bevin said, "You've got a guy that loves you."

"He may love me, but he loves someone else as well." Rachel said, "And I can only love someone that only loves me."

"Then how come he gave you this." Brooke said holding out Rachel's hand and pointed to the promise ring.

"If he had two women in his heart, then why would he commit to one and not the other?" Bevin asked her.

"Nathan loves you. And I'm pretty sure you love him as well Rachel." Brooke said.

"I do. I love him more then I've ever loved anyone. Actually it's the first time I've fallen in love."

"Yes I want to get married tomorrow don't you?" Peyton said, waiting impatiently for an answer.

"Of course I do."

"Then why would you ask me such a question?"

"Because when I proposed you hesitated to answer. So I thought you only accepted because you were pregnant."

"No, I accepted because I love you."

Nathan and Chase came out of the apartment and told Lucas it was time to go. The guys were bunking at Lucas's that night and the girls were bunking at Rachel's because of the whole superstition thing. Lucas nodded and kissed Peyton goodbye. Chase and Nathan went to say goodnight to their girlfriends. They walked to the bathroom and knocked on the door. Brooke opened the door and came out to give Chase a goodnight kiss. Nathan knocked on the door again and told Rachel that he was leaving. There was no response. He told Rachel that he loved her and only her. Bevin was in aw, and told Rachel to go talk to him but she wouldn't.

"We'll talk tomorrow I guess." Nathan said threw the door.

Nathan left with Chase, and Skillz. Peyton walked back into the apartment. Rachel heard the door close and ran out of the bathroom.

"Nathan!" she screamed hoping to see him, but she only saw Peyton. Her head went down and she walked back into the bathroom.

"I blew it you guys."


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Nathan, Chase, Skillz and Lucas arrived at the apartment and opened a couple of beer bottles. They all sat on the couch and drank their beers.

"Man, I'm going to miss sex tonight." Chase said taking a sip of beer.

The guys laughed once they heard Chase say that.

"Rachel's the best in bed."

"Yeah, I could believe that." Lucas stated and laughed.

"Brooke's awesome; then again, I have nothing to compare it to." Chase laughed

"No, no. Brooke's really good." Lucas said.

"Agreed" Nathan said.

"Yeah, this isn't awkward…" Chase said.

"It's really awkward dawg." Skillz said.

"Seriously though, Rachel is amazing. She knows everything you need to know. She could write a book"

"Did you there were more then 7 sexual positions?" Chase asked.

"Yeah, me and Rachel have done at least 10 different ones."

"Impressive" Skillz said nodding his head.

"The night of the bachelor party and bridal shower, Brooke came home really drunk and she was better then ever." Chase said.

"Oh yeah, Drunken sex is pretty amazing." Nathan stated.

"Wait a second" Lucas remembered something, "The bridal shower night???"

"Yeah…" Chase replied.

"You guys did it while Peyton was there?"

Rachel had made martinis for the girls who stayed, who was Brooke, Peyton, Bevin and Haley.

"No martini for me." Haley said innocently.

"Oh yeah right. You don't drink" Rachel said.

"More for us" Bevin said with a smile.

The topics that were mentioned were the wedding and Nathan and Rachel.

"Rach, you have to talk to Nathan tomorrow before the wedding." Brooke told her.

"Yeah, because I paired you with him and I don't want it to be awkward." Peyton said.

"Don't worry about it Peyt."

The girls stayed up talking about how things were going to change after the wedding. The first one of the gang was getting married. This was a huge thing that was happening.

"Have you and Chase talked about getting married Brooke?" Peyton asked.

"Kind of…but I don't think we're ready yet."

"You two are going to get married soon, I just know it." Rachel said to Brooke, "What about you Bev?"

"Well, we have talked about it, but we've decided to graduate from university first and then take it to the next big step." Bevin told the girls, "What about you Haley?"

"Me? No. I was married remember, to the man of my dreams…" Haley said daydreaming, "but I let him go."

"Yes you did," Rachel said quickly with a smile, "Can we please change topics."

"What about you and Nate, Rach?" Bevin asked.

"Well, right now, we're fighting, so that's not really a promising start. But tomorrow I'm going to try to work it out with him and if everything goes well, we're just going to be dating, and he's given me a promise ring."

"Hold on guys." Peyton said as she got up and went to the bathroom.

Haley waited till the door closed behind her.

"I can't believe Peyton and Lucas are starting off their marriage with a lie." Haley said.

Brooke and Rachel raised their eyebrows and looked at each other. How did Haley find out about Peyton and Jake? Peyton hadn't told her had she?

"What are you talking about?" Rachel asked just to make sure Haley did know about Jake and Peyton before talking to her about it.

"You know…Whitney and Lucas…" Haley said.

The girls had confused looks on their faces. Haley explained that Whitney had had cancer and that she was Lucas's first love.

"I thought I was his first love?" Brooke asked.

"No, you were the first one he dated after Whitney." Haley said, "Anyway, back to the story, at Lucas's bachelor party, Lucas found Whitney and they kissed. That's what she told me, but I think she did more."

The door slammed closed after Haley finished explaining what happened.

"What!" Peyton yelled.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Brooke went to go wake Peyton the next morning. She shook her but there was no answer.

"Peyton!" Brooke screamed, "It's your wedding day! WAKE UP!"

Peyton mumbled something threw her pillow.

"What?"

"I'm coming!" she screamed.

"Come on. We've got appointments!"

Brooke pulled Peyton's arm out of bed. Eventually Peyton picked herself out of bed and they got ready to go to the stylist place.

Lucas couldn't help to worry about what Chase said the day before. Where had Peyton gone the night of the bridal shower? He couldn't worry about that now right? He was getting married today. No stress, just excitement. But how come he wasn't that excited.

Once the girls were done at the stylist place they headed to Rachel's and put on their dresses on. The girls had done their nails so all that was left was the make-up, which Rachel was taking care of. Peyton went into Rachel's room to get changed. Bevin went to go get changed in the bathroom. Haley got changed in the office and Rachel got changed in the spare bedroom. Brooke waited for a room to change in. Bevin was out first. She looked gorgeous. She had a light blue tube dress on and it looked absolutely stunning.

"You look amazing Bev" Brooke said, "Blue is definitely your color."

Brooke hopped into the bathroom and changed into her dress. Brooke came out and Bevin her she looked amazing.

"Okay, I'm coming out" Peyton said threw the door

"Wait!" they all hear Rachel say. "Don't move until I come out."

Peyton started to laugh but obeyed Rachel's orders and stayed in the room. Rachel ran out, almost tripped with her high heels.

"Okay." Rachel said, "Peyton come out."

Peyton opened the door and walked out to see the girls in aw.

"Is the veil too much?" Peyton asked.

"You look beautiful P. Sawyer" Brooke told her.

"Thanks"

"Hey, where's Haley?" Bevin asked.

"I'm in here," she yelled from the office.

"What's taking so long?" Brooke asked.

"It doesn't fit."

"What!!!!" Peyton started to panic.

Haley came out and the dress was all wrong, it was way too tight. Rachel busted out laughing, "Wow" Rachel said with a smile. Peyton started panting.

"Calm down. We'll fix this." Brooke said.

Peyton ran to the couch and put her hands on her hand. Bevin and Brooke followed her.

"Have you been eating lots of cake lately Haley?" Rachel busted out laughing again. This was pay-back for causing trouble in her relationship with Haley. Rachel felt sorry for Peyton, of course, but it felt good getting even with Haley.

"Shut up!" Haley screamed, "Why did you get me such a small size"

"We got you the same size as me and Brooke's." Rachel said, "in stead of complaining you should be apologizing to Peyton. If you needed a size bigger, then you should have been there when we were trying on dresses."

Haley looked down and almost started to cry. Rachel didn't feel bad for Haley one bit. She brought this on herself. But they were still dealing with a crisis. Rachel decided to be the bigger person, "Why don't you just wear one of my dresses?" she asked.

"What?"

"Well, if your not going to be in the bridal party you need something to wear."

"I really don't think anything is going to fit me since this one doesn't."

"Don't worry, I still got dresses from my pre-lipo orca days." Rachel joked, "I think I have a size 8 which is a size bigger from that one."

"Alright, let me try it."

She came out with a gorgeous silver dress; Haley went to go put it on."

"Problem solved" Rachel said to Peyton.

Peyton got up and hugged Rachel, "Thanks Rach."

Haley came out of the room and the dress fit properly and it looked great too.

"Is it suppose to be this low cut??" Haley asked.

Karen, Deb and Lily came in the apartment. Peyton walked over to Lily and took her out of her stroller.

"Wow, you've grown up my little princess" she said and kissed her tummy as she lifted her.

"The photographer is here by the way." Deb said.

The girls ran out to the porch. They took a group shot, then a shot of Peyton with Brooke and Rachel, and then one individually. Then Peyton took a picture with Bevin and then with Haley. She also took one with Lily. They kept going until it was time to go.

Lucas, Chase and Nathan all got into the limo. Andy, Whitey, Skillz, and Mouth followed the limo to the church. The boys in the limo drank a little bit of champagne before getting to the church. When they arrived the limo had to leave to go pick up the girls. The photographer arrived moments later and took pictures of the boys. A mustang pulled up in front of the church and out came 3 boys and their parents. Lucas walked over to them and gave them a hug.

"Uncle Jimmy." Lucas said and he gave him a hug.

"How are you?"

"A little nervous."

"It's normal, don't worry about it."

"So the boys know what to do right?"

"Walk down the aisle with the rings and wait until the priest wants them" the boys said together like it was practice 100 times.

The girls got in the limo and drove off to the church.

"It smells like Swiss Army in here." Brooke said.

"Yeah, it's the new scent I bought Nathan." Rachel told her.

"What about the Calvin Klein I bought him?"

"Please, Swiss Army is the sexiest scent now."

They pulled up to the church, Peyton headed off with Brooke and Rachel to a little room. Haley, Bevin, and Deb went to go get seats.

"She's here" Chase said.

"Alright, give me a second." Lucas told the guys.

Chase and Nathan left Lucas alone in the changing room. Lucas remembered the night of the bachelor party. Whitney and him were really close to make love.

"I'm getting married, why am I thinking about this?" Lucas said to himself as the door opened.

"I said I was coming" Lucas said as he turned around to see who it was. It wasn't someone he was expecting to see, not for a couple minutes anyway.

"Peyton?" he said.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Rachel, Brooke, Nathan and Chase all met in one of the back rooms.

"Wow, you two look amazing" Chase told the girls.

"Thanks" Rachel replied

"Thank you boyfriend" Brooke said to Chase and followed it with a kiss.

Nathan grabbed Rachel's hand and brought her outside of the room.

"Rach, listen. I'm really sorry about last night." Nathan told her holding her hand close to him.

"I know." Rachel said with a smile, "I'm sorry too."

"No, you have nothing to apologize for." Nathan told her.

"I over reacted" Rachel told him.

"No, you reacted how any girlfriend would have considering the situation."

Brooke and Chase came out of the room and told them that the ceremony was about to start. "Okay, we'll get Peyton." Rachel told the guys.

"You guys get Lucas." Brooke told the guys.

Lucas was in shock to see Peyton. What was she doing here?

"It's bad luck to see the bride before the wedding." Lucas said

"Luke. We need to talk before the ceremony starts."

Brooke and Rachel ran to find Chase and Nathan. They finally caught up to each other.

"Peyton isn't in her room" Brooke screamed.

"Neither is Lucas" Nathan said.

Peyton and Lucas walked outside hand in hand and sat on a rock under a tree near the church

"What's going on?"

"I don't think we should get married Luke."

"Why?" We love each other."

"Sometimes love isn't enough you know?"

"Peyton, why are you saying these things?"

"Because we can't get married if we have other people in our hearts as well." Peyton said as Lucas put his head down, "I know about you and Whitney."

Lucas nodded. Whitney must have told Haley, and Haley being the saint she is, she must have told Peyton.

"As long as we're speaking the truth; where were you the night of the bridal shower?"

"I was with Jake…"

"You're right. We needed to talk before getting married. It's not a good idea."

"So what now?"

"We tell everyone in that church that there isn't going to be a wedding."

"And we are?" Peyton asked him.

"On a break?" Lucas stated, "Until we find out what we want.

Peyton nodded in agreement

"If it's meant to be, we will get back together."

"People say that true love finds its way back"

"We'll just have to see if that's true."


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

That night all the teens were invited to the party which would have been Peyton and Lucas's reception. Mouth went to set up his mix players and cranked up the music. All the teens met on the dance floor and started partying and dancing. Nathan and Rachel walked out of the plaza and sat outside together facing the beach. They hadn't really talked since the whole picture incident. Nathan told Rachel that he was really sorry, and that he had no idea Haley changed his wallpaper.

"There's something I've been meaning to show you Rach." Nathan told her as he took out his phone, opened it and showed Rachel.

She jumped up and screamed, "Oh my God!"

Nathan's wallpaper was of the beautiful diamond ring that she had her eyes on. Nathan and Rachel had done some shopping, and Rachel just couldn't resist not looking at engagement rings. She had spotted this exact ring in one of the windows, she had tried it on, and it looked absolutely beautiful on her. But this was back in France when they went on the European trip together. How did he remember?

"You remembered that?"

"I remember everything" he whispered in her ear.

"What's going on?"

"Well, you know that promise ring I gave you…" Nathan said, as Rachel nodded, "This ring will be waiting to replace it when you're ready."

"Nathan…" Rachel said.

Nathan put his hand in his pocket and took out a little box, Rachel started crying. Nathan opened it and Rachel was speechless. It was the most beautiful ring she had ever seen.

"Don't cry," Nathan said wiping a tear off her cheek, "I know we're not 100 ready for this step but I want you to know how much you mean to me Rachel."

"How?" Rachel asked, "When did all this happen?"

"Pretty close to when I found this," Nathan said taking out a pregnancy test.

Brooke was sitting at one of the tables by herself. Chase was dancing with Peyton but saw Brooke and stopped. Peyton stopped too, looked over at Brooke and told him to go over and talk to her. He did as he was told, and walked over to Brooke. He kissed her hand and asked her what was wrong. Brooke had been silent all night, Chase thought it might have been her period, but Brooke seemed to be fine now, just a little sad.

"It's nothing." Brooke said as she turned away from him.

There was a moment of silence and then Chase got up from the table and sat on the other side of Brooke so he could face her.

"It's just … what if someone comes between us like Jake and Whitney came between Lucas and Peyton." Brooke said out of no where

"No one is going to come between us Brooke," Chase told her rubbing her cheek with his soft hand, "I mean, the only relationships I've ever had were with you and Lizzie."

"I know, but new people do come along."

"You can't think about the what if's"

"But seriously, can you look me straight in the eye and tell me that Lizzie still isn't in your heart?"

"Well, if she is, it's a really small part of my heart"

"But still, that little piece can turn into a big part."

"How?"

"If she came back into your life Chase"

"She cheated on me Brooke," Chase said looking her in the eyes, "Why would I take her back?"

"It happens" Brooke told him, "I took Lucas back."

"No one is splitting us up okay?"

"Whatever you say…" Brooke said as she looked the other way.

Mouth played "Buy you a drank" on the speakers. The girls scream for joy and bring their boyfriends to the floor. Nathan and Rachel were the first ones on the dance floor. He twirled her and then they started grinding on the dance floor. Chase brought Brooke to the dance floor, it was one of her favourite songs and he knew that. Once they were on the dance floor she started to loosen up and then starting dancing with Chase. Shelly and Mouth were dancing by the music. Bevin brought Skillz to the dance floor and they started dancing as well. Lucas asked Whitney to dance, as Peyton asked Jake. They both accepted and headed for the dance floor. The basist from Jake's band walked over to Haley and asked her to dance. Chris was sitting by himself while everyone was dancing.

"Chris Keller sitting by himself while everyone else dances to the horniest song ever…typical." He said to himself.

Mouth was holding Shelly and screamed that the chorus was coming and he wanted everyone to sing. Mouth put the microphone towards the gang and they all shouted, "We in the bed like, ou, ou, ou, ou, ou!" Everyone laughed together.

After the song was done Nathan and Rachel headed outside again hand in hand.

"So back to our previous conversation," Nathan said with a smirk look on his face

"Yeah…" Rachel said as she looked down.

"Why did I find a pregnancy test in the bathroom?" Nathan asked her

"Well you know me, I've done it so many times that I always have to check."

"Come on Rach…"

Rachel exhaled, "I'm late, that's the only reason I have it okay?"

"Are you pregnant?" Nathan asked her, "Because if you are, then I don't want to be the last one to know like with Haley. I want you to be honest with me."

"I don't know Nate." Rachel said, "I'm scared to take the test. I'm not ready to become a mother. Nathan, we're NOT ready."

"You have to take the test babe."

"I know, I'm just scared."

"I know, but this baby can connect us even more then we already are."

Peyton and Jake were sitting together and were talking about what they saw happening in the future.

"I want you to be part of my life Jake."

Jake smiled, and held her hands. He still loved her, even after all the heartache and lies. She still loved him too. A little girl walked up with them and Peyton couldn't believe her eyes.

"Jenny!" she screamed.

She picked her up and spun her around. She had grown up so much since the last time she had seen her.

Brooke and Chase had to leave early because they were both working the next day and they left in Chase's mustang.

Jake snuck behind Rachel and poked her. Rachel turned around and freaked out when she saw Jake.

"Jigalow!" she screamed

"Gatti!" he replied, as he lifted her up and hugged her.

"I missed you."

"I've missed you too."

"My sources tell me you've gotten better in bed mister."

Jake looked at Peyton, "Must have been your toys."

Mouth and Shelly were the next ones to leave. They were leaving for Canada in the morning. Haley Lucas and Whitney were the next ones to leave. Skillz and Bevin were sleeping over at Nathan and Rachel's. Peyton and Jake left soon after.

Brooke was lying down on the couch, twirling her hair with her finger. Chase came with two cups of hot tea and then told Brooke to lift her head off the couch so he could sit. She lifted her head, he sat down, and then she put her head down on his legs. He handed her a cup of tea. He held her hand and kissed it.

"I love you Brooke Davis"

"I love you too Chase Adams." Brooke said, "I just have this feeling that we're going have lots of problems."

"We're not going to have problems okay!"

There was a knock on the door. Chase went to go get it.

"Brooke I'm telling you, no one is going to come between us…" Chase yelled to Brooke and then opened the door. He saw a face that he hadn't seen for a good year, year and a half. She smiled at him, she had one beautiful smile. He was really shocked to see her.

"Lizzie?" he asked.

Brooke jumped off the couch and saw a brunette with a mini-skirt and a yellow tank-top smiling and giving her boyfriend a hug.

"Well, aren't you going to invite me in?"


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Lucas walked Whitney home, brought her to her doorstep and kissed her on the cheek. He turned around and started walking back home, Whitney ran after him and grabbed his hand.

"Luke I'm in love with you." Whitney said.

"What?"

"I thought you should know. I never stopped loving you."

"You lied to me Whit. You broke my heart."

"Can you let me explain what happened please?"

"Alright."

"Come inside, I'll make some coffee."

Bevin and Skillz decided to go to a club to give Nathan and Rachel some privacy. Nathan gave Skillz his key so that they could get into the apartment whenever they got home. Nathan and Rachel went home. Rachel kissed Nathan and went to go turned on the tv. She sat on the couch and Nathan joined her.

"You know you have to take that pregnancy test Rach."

"I know. But it's too early, I have to wait 2 days."

"So we'll take it together tomorrow." Nathan said as Rachel nodding and curled up in his arms. Nathan smiled and held her close.

Chase just stared off into space and Lizzie was waiting impatiently, "Well…" she said

Brooke got up and smiled, walked over to Chase and flicked him in the back of the head.

"Yeah, yeah. Come on in." Chase said zoning out.

The three of them walked over to the living room and sat down around the fireplace.

"So what are you doing here?" Chase asked Lizzie

"Well, Pittsburgh was getting really boring. So I called your mom and asked her where you were and she gave me the address.

Brooke had a fake smile on her face; Chase still hadn't introduced the two of them. "Hi, I'm Brooke." She said finally.

"Hi, I'm Lizzie, so you and Chase are friends?"

"Well actually…" Brooke was interrupted by Chase

"Yeah."

Brooke gave him a weird look, how could he saw something like that.

"But we're also dating…" Chase redeemed himself.

"Right…" Lizzie said rolling her eyes, Brooke saw Lizzie doing this, but didn't say anything. "CJ I was wondering if I could stay with you for a couple of days?"

"Ah, yeah," Chase said nodding, "No problem."

"Great!" Lizzie exclaimed as she went to go get her things. Brooke turned to Chase and screamed, "She's staying!"

"Yeah, come on Brooke," Chase said, "She doesn't have anywhere else to go."

Lizzie came back in and Chase showed her to the guest bedroom. Brooke watched Chase help Lizzie with her stuff. He came back and sat next to Brooke, who was really upset. He put his arm over her, but she pulled away.

"What?" he asked.

"CJ?" she questioned, "What is that!"

"Chase James…" Chase told her.

"What? I didn't even know you HAD another name."

"It's okay, because now you know."

Chase got up and went to go get three cokes. While he was in the kitchen he could see Lizzie taking off her shirt by the reflection of the mirror. She saw him starring and winked. Chase looked down and brought the cokes to Brooke. Was this the start of trouble?

Whitney brought hot coffee to the table; Lucas took one of the mugs. She pulled a chair from under the table and sat down, "Where do I begin?"

"From the beginning would be nice."

"Okay we were dating for a good two years, then I found out that I had cancer. I told you a month later."

"Yes, I remember"

"I didn't want to go threw chemo, because the doctor said that there was little possibility that I would be able to fight the cancer. But you told me I should do it, and I listened to you." Whitney told him, "I went threw the chemo; lost all my hair, but it didn't work. My hair starting growing back and I had to stay in the hospital." She said as lucas nodded, and he remembered.

"Luke you were at that hospital day and night with me everyday, and I felt really guilty."

"But I wanted to be there for you Whit." Lucas said, "I loved you so much."

"I know." Whitney replied, "But I put you threw so much pain"

"Please continue."

"Well, my mom got a phone call from one of her friends, who was a doctor in New York, and he told her there could be something that could help me. My mom told me, and I wanted to go and try what this doctor had in mind."

"Why didn't you tell me about this treatment?"

"Because I knew you would have wanted to come with me."

Lucas nodded, but let her continue her story.

"So I told my mom to call you and tell you that I had died, the one night you didn't come to see me in the hospital; I think it was your first basketball game as a Raven. Anyways, she didn't like the idea, but I kind of gave her an ultimatum and told her that if she didn't call you to tell you I was dead, I wasn't going to go to New York. She called you up, told you I was dead, and then we drove to New York and I got the treatment done, lost all my hair and flew back to Tree Hill. I came back to see you; and what do I see, you and Brooke Davis making out at school. And I saw that you were really happy; you and Haley. I didn't feel like I had a right to intervene with your happiness. So I flew back to New York."

* * *

Author's Note: hey guys, i just wanted to say thank you to all my readers who have been following this story since the very beginning, and stuck to it. i really appreciate it.

I realized that some people haven't been enjoying my decisions on the storylines. like the Nachel storyline for one. I chose to do a nachel fanfic because believe it or not there are people that don't like naley. and most of the fanfictions on here are of naley, and i just wanted the Naley haters i guess you can call them, something new. i understand that this will never happen in the real one tree hill, but i'm not writing because i want mark to take my ideas, i'm writing because i love it. i'm been pretty cruel with the Haley character, and i appologize, seriously. This is MY story though, the way i write is how i would like to see some of the characters. i'm sorry if you don't like what i've done with this fanfic. but it's my personal view, and storylines i think would be good.

I would like to thanks Katie and Anna for defending me, but i would like to stop, i really appreciate it, i do. but writers always get bad feedback, and i need to deal with it, and listen to what my viewers are feeling. i love you girlies for doing it, and thank you. but i hope you understand.

I don't know if any of you have read my newer fanfiction "A New Beginning" but i think i'm going to start paying more attention which means, this fanfiction will come to a close soon. I think i'm going to post about 5 more chapters. and then i will end with a conclusion and a farwell.

I hope you guys understand 3

thanks

Amanda


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